Daily Editorial Analysis 8 October 2026

From the Brink to a Comeback, Hope for India’s Wildlife

Context

• The recovery of endangered species demonstrates that extinction is not always irreversible.
• The Great Indian Bustard, Iberian lynx, scimitar-horned oryx and saiga antelope show how habitat restoration, scientific intervention, breeding programmes and community participation can revive threatened wildlife.
• India, as one of the 17 megadiverse countries, bears a major responsibility for protecting its exceptional biodiversity.
• The challenge is not merely preventing extinction but enabling species to recover, reproduce and survive sustainably in the wild.

India’s Biodiversity and the Conservation Challenge

• India occupies only 4% of the world’s land area, yet supports nearly 8% of global flora and 7.5% of fauna.
• It contains parts of four biodiversity hotspots, while many Indian species are endemic.
• However, habitat destruction, infrastructure expansion, climate change, pollution, poaching, invasive species and human-wildlife conflict pose serious threats.
• Of 7,516 Indian animal species assessed under the IUCN Red List, 1,012 are threatened.
• However, assessments cover only about 2% of documented animal species, indicating that the actual scale of biodiversity risk remains uncertain.
• The National Red List Assessment can address this knowledge gap. India’s National Red List Roadmap, launched in 2025, aims to produce National Red Data Books for plants and animals by 2030. This can provide a scientific basis for prioritising conservation action.

Government Schemes and Species Recovery

• The Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats scheme supports recovery efforts for 24 identified species and their habitats through research, habitat improvement, protection and community participation.
• Conservation strategies must be species-specific.
• The Great Indian Bustard requires grassland protection, the Sangai depends on wetlands, the dugong needs healthy seagrass ecosystems, and the hangul requires protected forest habitats.
• Thus, effective conservation must combine species-specific planning, habitat protection and scientific monitoring.

The Projects in States

• Nilgiri Tahr and Vulture Conservation

  • Project Nilgiri Tahr combines population surveys, radio-collaring and habitat assessment across Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
  • Surveys recorded 1,303 tahrs in 2025 and 1,364 in 2026, demonstrating the value of sustained monitoring.
  • Vulture conservation illustrates the importance of tackling the causes of decline.
  • The veterinary use of diclofenac caused catastrophic mortality, while its ban, conservation breeding, habitat protection and awareness programmes have supported recovery.
  • Madhya Pradesh recorded 12,981 vultures in 2025, compared with 8,397 in 2019.

• Asiatic Lion and Rhinoceros

  • The Asiatic lion population increased from 674 in 2020 to 891 in 2025, supported by habitat management, grassland restoration, invasive-plant control and monitoring.
  • Greater one-horned rhinoceros conservation combines anti-poaching measures, habitat management and community participation.
  • In Assam’s Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, awareness, livelihood support and conflict reduction have helped make conservation a durable part of the landscape.

• Clouded Leopard and Dugong

  • The clouded leopard requires habitat connectivity across the Northeast.
  • Fourteen priority landscapes have been identified where habitat restoration, scientific monitoring and community participation are essential.
  • Dugong conservation requires protection of marine ecosystems. Tamil Nadu’s 34 sq km Dugong Conservation Reserve protects seagrass habitats in Palk Bay.
  • A 2026 assessment estimated 270 dugongs, providing an important baseline for future conservation.

• Snow Leopard and Community Stewardship

  • India’s first scientific assessment estimated 718 snow leopards in 2024.
  • In Himachal Pradesh, women from Kibber have contributed to camera trapping, population monitoring and protection activities.
  • Such initiatives demonstrate the importance of community stewardship alongside scientific conservation.

The Path Forward

• Political Support Is Essential

  • Conservation cannot succeed through science alone.
  • Political commitment determines whether species receive sustained funding, administrative coordination and protection from competing land-use demands.
  • State governments must integrate biodiversity into infrastructure, land-use and livelihood decisions.
  • Forest departments need trained personnel for surveys, habitat assessment, conservation breeding and genetic analysis.
  • Since species recovery may take decades, programmes require long-term funding, measurable targets and adaptive management.

• Funding and Community Participation

  • Less-publicised species often struggle to secure adequate resources.
  • State conservation funds can unite governments, industry, philanthropy and scientific institutions around local priorities.
  • International initiatives such as the Phoenix Species Project, which committed $200 million to recover 100 threatened species, demonstrate the importance of dependable multi-year funding. India similarly needs predictable resources for habitats, research and monitoring.
  • Community participation is equally important.
  • Compensation for fishing gear damaged while releasing dugongs, for instance, recognises local conservation efforts and creates incentives for stewardship.

Conclusion

• India’s experience with the bustard, vulture, Nilgiri tahr, Asiatic lion, rhinoceros, dugong and snow leopard proves that species recovery is achievable when science, policy and communities work together.
• Yet isolated successes must evolve into a comprehensive national conservation strategy.
• The National Red List can identify biodiversity risks, while States can translate this knowledge into mapped habitats, measurable targets, scientific monitoring and community-centred recovery plans.
• Conservation must therefore move beyond emergency protection towards rebuilding populations, habitats and ecological connections.
• India’s conservation future depends on sustained political will, scientific capacity, adequate financing and communities that are empowered as partners in protecting biodiversity.

From the Brink to a Comeback, Hope for India’s Wildlife FAQs

Q1. What makes India important for global biodiversity conservation?
Ans. India is a megadiverse country supporting nearly 8% of global flora and 7.5% of fauna.

Q2. What is the purpose of the National Red List Assessment?
Ans. It aims to identify threatened species and guide scientifically prioritised conservation efforts.

Q3. How has vulture conservation progressed in India?
Ans. Vulture recovery has been supported by the ban on diclofenac, conservation breeding, habitat protection and monitoring.

Q4. Why is community participation important in wildlife conservation?
Ans. Community participation provides local knowledge, stewardship and long-term support for conservation programmes.

Q5. What is essential for sustained species recovery?
Ans. Sustained recovery requires political commitment, scientific monitoring, adequate funding and long-term community participation.

Source: The Hindu

India’s Stakes in the Global Pandemic Agreement

Context

• At the United Nations High Level Meeting (UN HLM) in New York, in September 2026, India made official remarks on the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR).
• This Declaration forms part of an emerging global legal regime on pandemics, led by the WHO Pandemic Agreement (PA).
• This article highlights India’s stakes in the emerging global pandemic governance framework, examining the WHO Pandemic Agreement, North-South divisions, PABS negotiations, national sovereignty and India’s role in promoting equitable access.

The Pandemic Agreement: Origins and Divide

• The PA was adopted by 124 member-states in 2025, including India.
• No country voted against it, while 11 abstained — reflecting broad alignment across high-, middle- and low-income countries (HICs/LICs/LMICs).
• Negotiations centred on balancing national sovereignty with international cooperation and solidarity, exposing clear fault lines between the Global North and Global South.
• Key Contested Issues
  • Whether a global treaty can set binding targets (e.g., for ‘One Health’ measures) without securing funding for countries with fragile health systems.
  • Whether national pandemic regulations can be harmonised through global frameworks.
  • Whether private manufacturers can be required to share vaccines in real time at affordable prices.

The Unfinished Piece: PABS

• The PA is not yet open for ratification, because negotiations continue on an annexe concerning the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system.
• PABS aims to ensure that during a pandemic, LICs and LMICs receive a fair share of vaccines, medicines and other therapeutics.
• Even without ratification, the PA has already created a first-of-its-kind global legal regime for PPPR.
• Operationalisation will require countries like India to balance the interests of HICs, LICs, and LMICs — a balance that will determine whether the PA entrenches COVID-19-era inequities or makes global health governance genuinely inclusive.

India’s Position at the UN HLM

• India succeeded in enshrining the multilateral components of the PA within the principle of national sovereignty, while reiterating its commitment to strengthening global pandemic preparedness.
• India’s position rests on two pillars:
  • Equitable access to drugs, vaccines, and therapeutics, and the creation of global public goods such as digital infrastructure — priorities that also align with India’s own national interests.
  • Respect for national sovereignty — the primacy of member-states in shaping global policy interventions according to their own circumstances.
• A contrasting stance: The United States rejected the Declaration, calling PABS and the WHO’s role in declaring pandemics a challenge to its national interests — a sharp contrast to India’s engaged, balancing approach.

Where the North-South Fault Lines Lie

• India’s remarks acknowledged concerns from both sides, with sovereignty invoked by each in different ways:
  • African countries did not consent to commitments for monitoring the human-animal-environment interface — a key source of pandemic outbreaks — without significant, guaranteed funding from the Global North.
  • Global North countries, conversely, resisted binding targets on technology transfer and similar provisions.
• India’s framing at the UN HLM was direct: “Global Solidarity must be demonstrated through action.”

India’s Role Going Forward: Three Proposed Options

• Technical Partnerships

  • Develop partnerships in specific technical areas of the PA — One Health, surveillance, and health workforce strengthening — to build trust with Global South countries; and
  • Create a “store” of operational solutions to difficult sovereignty-related problems.

• Leveraging Existing Platforms

  • Using India’s leadership role within established global groupings:
    • The H20 summit (a health and development partnership spanning G-7 and G-20) will convene under the UK’s G-20 leadership at the end of 2027, with pandemic preparedness as a core health agenda.
    • India already holds significant influence here — during its own G-20 presidency in 2023, India launched the Global Initiative for Digital Health.
  • ‘Partners for Multilateralism’, launched in 2026 by the European Union (co-sponsors: Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, India, Kenya), is another relevant platform.

• Strengthening Domestic Policy

  • Aligning India’s own regulatory architecture — particularly around access to biological material and benefit distribution — with the highest standards of equity.
  • The underlying logic: global leadership rests on domestic strength; India must practise at home the equity it demands globally.

Why This Matters for India Specifically

• An equitable global PPPR regime is framed as being in India’s own interest, not merely a responsibility toward the Global South.
  • India is the “pharmacy of the world,” manufacturing one of the largest shares of vaccines globally by volume.
  • Yet India needs an equitable global vaccine distribution regime itself — a seeming paradox explained by two structural dependencies:
    • Patents for many vaccines India manufactures are held by global pharmaceutical companies.
    • India remains import-dependent for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).
  • What India Needs From the North: Access to the latest technology to strengthen domestic manufacturing of high-grade personal protective equipment and medical devices.
  • What India Must Offer the South: Leadership in South-South Cooperation, sharing its technological strength with other Global South nations.

India’s Health System as a Global Public Good

• India’s health system operates at a continental scale, and its interventions in digital health infrastructure, laboratory networks, and One Health are valuable as global public goods.
• Hence, an effective PA needs an engaged India, and a strong PA will strengthen India’s own pandemic management.

India’s Stakes in the Global Pandemic Agreement FAQs

Q1. What is the WHO Pandemic Agreement?

Ans: The WHO Pandemic Agreement is an emerging global legal framework aimed at strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness and response through international cooperation.

Q2. What is the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system?

Ans: PABS seeks to ensure low- and middle-income countries receive fair shares of vaccines, medicines and therapeutics during future pandemics.

Q3. What are the two pillars of India’s position on the Pandemic Agreement?

Ans: India emphasises equitable access to medicines and vaccines while insisting that national sovereignty must remain central to global pandemic policy.

Q4. Why is the North-South divide important in pandemic governance?

Ans: Global South countries seek guaranteed financing, while Global North countries have resisted binding commitments on technology transfer and related provisions.

Q5. Why is the Pandemic Agreement important for India?

Ans: India needs equitable vaccine distribution, technology access and stronger domestic manufacturing despite being a major global vaccine producer and pharmaceutical supplier.

Source: TH

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