Current Affairs · · GS3 · Environment

Several Indian species show recovery, but most remain unassessed

Counts of Asiatic lions, vultures, Nilgiri tahr and dugongs show that targeted conservation can reverse decline. An opinion piece argues India must now move from guarding isolated reserves to managing whole landscapes. Most Indian species have never been assessed for extinction risk, which a national Red List plan aims to fix by 2030.

Event date:

REq1
  1. Context1 / 5
    • An opinion article reviews recent comebacks of threatened Indian species, and asks what they teach about conservation.
    • India has about 2.4% of the world's land but about 7-8% of its recorded species. It is one of 17 megadiverse countries, and holds parts of four of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots: the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, and Sundaland, which includes the Nicobar Islands.
    • Most Indian animal species have still not been assessed for extinction risk. The Environment Ministry's National Red List Roadmap and Vision 2025-2030 aims to assess Indian flora and fauna and publish national Red Data Books by 2030.
  2. Key highlights2 / 5

    The table brings together recent counts that show what targeted protection can achieve.

    SpeciesWhereRecent countWhat helped
    Asiatic lionSaurashtra, Gujarat674 in 2020 to 891 in 2025Protection, prey and habitat management
    Vultures, all speciesMadhya Pradesh8,397 in 2019 to 12,981 in 2025Ban on veterinary diclofenac; breeding centres
    Nilgiri tahrTamil Nadu1,303 in 2025 to 1,364 in 2026Project Nilgiri Tahr surveys; radio-collaring
    DugongTamil Nadu coastAbout 270: 158 in Palk Bay, 112 in the Gulf of MannarDugong conservation reserve; fisher participation
    Snow leopardHimalayan range718, the first national estimate, in 2024Community camera-trapping
    • The dugong reserve. India's first Dugong Conservation Reserve covers 448.34 sq km in Palk Bay, Tamil Nadu. A drone survey gives a baseline for future monitoring.
    • Other efforts under way. Captive breeding of the Great Indian Bustard, rhino protection in Assam's Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, Project Cheetah, and protection of the sangai deer's floating wetland habitat in Keibul Lamjao National Park, Manipur.
  3. Key concepts3 / 5

    1. What does the IUCN Red List measure?

    It ranks species by extinction risk, from Least Concern to Critically Endangered. Most Indian species have not been assessed at all, so we cannot tell which ones need help first. A national list fills that gap.

    2. Why manage landscapes rather than reserves?

    A protected area is like a single room in a house. Animals need corridors to move between rooms, find mates and keep populations genetically healthy. Landscape-level conservation protects the corridors too.

    3. Which laws and bodies are central?

    The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 is the main legal framework. Its 2022 amendment gave effect to CITES, the treaty on international trade in wildlife. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau tackles trafficking. Management Effectiveness Evaluation rates how well a protected area is run, not merely how large it is.

  4. Note4 / 5

    Threats, and the role of communities

    • Fragmentation. Roads, railways, mining and power lines break up habitats. Collisions with power lines are a major killer of Great Indian Bustards.
    • Human-wildlife conflict. Losses of crops and livestock can turn local people against conservation.
    • Pollution. The vulture crash was caused by diclofenac in livestock carcasses, a reminder of how a single chemical can strike a whole group of species.
    • Climate change. It shifts species ranges and food supply, especially in Himalayan and coastal ecosystems.
    • Communities as partners. Women in Kibber, in Himachal Pradesh, help monitor snow leopards. Fishers in Palk Bay release dugongs caught in nets, and are compensated for the damage to them.
  5. Way forward5 / 5

    These are suggested measures, not adopted policy.

    • Complete the national Red List assessments by 2030, and update population baselines regularly.
    • Connect protected areas through corridors and landscape-level planning.
    • Build biodiversity safeguards into infrastructure planning, such as undergrounding power lines in bustard habitat.
    • Use modern monitoring tools such as camera traps, telemetry, drones and environmental DNA.
    • Make communities co-managers, with fair compensation, livelihood benefits and respect for traditional knowledge.
    • Set measurable targets and adapt programmes as results come in.

Sources

Syllabus

PaperSubjectSub-topic
GS3EnvironmentConservation, environmental pollution and degradation; environmental impact assessment
PrelimsEnvironmentBiodiversity; species in news; protected areas; the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972; the IUCN Red List

Topics

BiodiversityEcology and EcosystemEnvironmental Laws, Conventions and PoliciesProtected Areas and ConservationSpecies

Practice questions

  1. Consider the following pairs: 1. Sangai — Keibul Lamjao National Park 2. Dugong Conservation Reserve — Gulf of Kutch 3. Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary — Greater one-horned rhinoceros Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

    1. 1 and 2 only
    2. 1 and 3 only
    3. 2 and 3 only
    4. 1, 2 and 3
    Show answer

    Answer: B. Pairs 1 and 3 are correctly matched: the sangai, a deer found on the floating wetland of Loktak, is protected in Keibul Lamjao National Park in Manipur, and Pobitora in Assam is known for its density of greater one-horned rhinoceros. Pair 2 is wrong, because India's first Dugong Conservation Reserve is in Palk Bay, off Tamil Nadu, not the Gulf of Kutch.

    Difficulty: medium · statement

  2. The sharp decline of vultures in India was mainly linked to which one of the following?

    1. Pesticide residues in grain
    2. Diclofenac in livestock carcasses
    3. Lead from ammunition
    4. Collisions with power lines
    Show answer

    Answer: B. Vultures died of kidney failure after feeding on the carcasses of cattle that had been treated with the painkiller diclofenac, which was subsequently banned for veterinary use. The recovery of vulture numbers since that ban is the clearest evidence that the drug, rather than any of the other causes listed, drove the collapse.

    Difficulty: easy · statement

  3. With reference to the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022, consider the following statements: 1. It gives effect to India's obligations under CITES. 2. It created the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    1. 1 only
    2. 2 only
    3. Both 1 and 2
    4. Neither 1 nor 2
    Show answer

    Answer: A. Statement 1 is correct: the 2022 amendment brought Indian law into line with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Statement 2 is wrong, because the National Tiger Conservation Authority was created by the 2006 amendment to the same Act, following the Tiger Task Force report.

    Difficulty: medium · statement

Mains practice

Answer-writing practice on this article. Attempt it first, then open the hints.

  1. GS3 · 250 words

    "India’s species recoveries show that conservation works, but protected areas alone are not enough." Discuss with examples.

    Show hints
    1. Open with the evidence that protection works, using the rise in lion, vulture, Nilgiri tahr and dugong numbers and the specific intervention behind each.
    2. Draw out what those cases have in common: an identified threat, a targeted remedy, and sustained monitoring to show whether it worked.
    3. Turn to the limits of a reserve-centred approach, where roads, railways, power lines and mining fragment habitat beyond the boundary.
    4. Argue the landscape case, that corridors sustain movement, mating and genetic health in ways an isolated protected area cannot.
    5. Conclude on the two enablers: communities treated as co-managers, and the national Red List assessments that would show which species need help first.