From the brink to a comeback, hope for India’s wildlife

Why in the News

A Great Indian Bustard chick has hatched in Kutch, Gujarat, after a decade, one of several recoveries showing threatened species can return from the brink of extinction. Highlighted during Wildlife Week (October 2 to 8), these gains last only where States sustain funding, science and community participation over many years.

What is species recovery, and what framework does India have?

1. What recovery means: Species recovery brings a population back from near extinction by restoring habitat and prey, breeding animals and returning them to the wild, much like rehabilitating a patient.
2. Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH): This Union scheme backs recovery of 24 identified species, with States doing research, habitat work, protection and community outreach. Eg. great Indian bustard, Sangai, dugong, hangul.
3. Threat largely unmeasured: 1,012 assessed Indian animal species are threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, the global extinction-risk register. Assessments cover only 7.2% of documented species.
4. National Red List Roadmap: India launched it at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi in 2025, aiming for National Red Data Books, registers of species at risk, for plants and animals by 2030.
5. The takeaway: The IDWH list is only a starting point; a national risk picture must show where recovery goes next.

How have threatened species recovered in India?

1. Nilgiri tahr: Tamil Nadu’s Project Nilgiri Tahr surveys, radio-collars and maps the tahr across Tamil Nadu and Keralam with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and IUCN. Counts rose from 1,303 to 1,364 in a year.
2. Vultures: India’s ban on veterinary diclofenac, which had caused catastrophic vulture losses, was the crucial step:
   • the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore, run by the Haryana Forest Department and the Bombay Natural History Society, breeds white-rumped, long-billed and slender-billed vultures;
   • Tamil Nadu’s Segur Plateau remains an important habitat, with breeding populations in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
3. Large mammals in protected landscapes: Protection with community support has helped:
   • Asiatic lions in Gujarat now occupy a wider part of Saurashtra;
   • greater one-horned rhinos thrive in Assam’s Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which has exceptionally high rhino density;
   • Meghalaya’s plan for the clouded leopard, its State animal, covers 14 priority landscapes.
4. Dugong: Tamil Nadu set up India’s first dugong conservation reserve across 448.34 sq km of Palk Bay seagrass, where a WII baseline estimated 270 dugongs.
5. Snow leopard: India’s first scientific population assessment estimated 718 snow leopards in 2024. In Himachal Pradesh’s Kibber, local women help forest teams set camera traps.

Why do recoveries abroad show that sustained action and money work?

1. Iberian lynx: In Spain and Portugal, restoring habitat and prey, captive breeding and release lifted mature lynx from 62 to 648 in about two decades.
2. Oryx and saiga: The scimitar-horned oryx has returned to the wild in Chad, and the saiga antelope has recovered in Kazakhstan.
3. Phoenix Species Project: Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund have committed $200 million to recover 100 of the world’s most threatened species, showing recovery needs dependable money.

Challenges

1. Neglected species: Species that receive little public attention struggle to attract funding.
2. Plans not reaching the ground: Recovery plans fail unless political commitment shapes land use, infrastructure and livelihood decisions.
3. Costs borne by communities: Fishermen who release dugongs caught in their nets can lose valuable gear.

Way Forward

1. Sustained State budgets: State leaders should prioritise recovery, bring departments together and fund it across successive budgets.
2. State conservation funds: Pool government, industry, philanthropy and science, as Tamil Nadu’s Endangered Species Conservation Fund does for the mahseer, striped hyena, Madras hedgehog, lion-tailed macaque and hornbill.
3. Field science and training: Place scientists close to the field, and train staff in surveys, conservation breeding and genetic analysis.
4. Community partnership: Involve communities in surveys and ground decisions, and compensate losses, as Tamil Nadu does for fishermen’s nets.

Conclusion

India has shown that threatened species can return when protection, science and local stewardship last for years. Whether States keep paying once the first gains arrive will decide which species follow.

Key numbers

1. India’s share of global biodiversity: 2.4% of world land area; nearly 8% of flora and 7.5% of fauna.
2. Megadiversity: one of 17 megadiverse countries, with parts of 4 of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots.
3. Endemism: around 28% of India’s plants and over 30% of its animals are found nowhere else.
4. IUCN Red List coverage: 7,516 Indian animal species assessed.
5. Vultures, Madhya Pradesh census: 8,397 (2019) to 12,981 (2025).
6. Asiatic lions, Gujarat: 674 (2020) to 891 (2025).

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2024] Consider the following statements: Statement-I: The Indian Flying Fox is placed under the “vermin” category in the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Statement-II: The Indian Flying Fox feeds on the blood of other animals. Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements? (a) Both statement I and Statement II are correct and statement II explains statement I (b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I (c) Staement- I is correct , but Statement II is incorrect* (d) Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct ANSWER:”