At the Abu Dhabi Climate Summit, India emerged as a global standard-bearer for biodiversity protection, unveiling the National Red List Assessment (NRLA), a sweeping plan to document and safeguard endangered flora and fauna with unprecedented scientific rigour.
Announced by Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh, the initiative places India firmly among nations leading with science-based conservation. The NRLA, prepared with the Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, and IUCN India, sets out to create a comprehensive Red Data Book by 2030, a keystone document to steer national and regional environmental policy.
India, home to over 104,000 animal species and 18,800 plant species, stands as one of the world’s 17 mega-diverse nations. Nearly one-third of its biodiversity is endemic, existing nowhere else on Earth. “This assessment is not just a document,” Singh said, “but a declaration that India’s ecological wealth will be preserved through knowledge, not nostalgia.”
The project underscores India’s growing environmental diplomacy. It reinforces commitments under the Wildlife Protection Act (1972) and CITES, while signalling to the global community that developing nations can lead on data-driven sustainability.
What sets this initiative apart is its scope and inclusivity. For the first time, indigenous communities, research institutions, and regional conservation centres will be directly involved in identifying species at risk, ensuring that traditional ecological knowledge complements modern science. This collaborative model not only empowers local custodians of biodiversity but also ensures that conservation strategies remain sensitive to social and economic realities on the ground.
Experts see the NRLA as a potential turning point. By integrating digital databases, GIS mapping, and AI-based species monitoring, India aims to make conservation measurable and accessible. The findings will feed into national climate adaptation policies, linking species protection with broader resilience planning.
With climate volatility threatening ecosystems, the NRLA offers a new paradigm, one where conservation is proactive, technology-enabled, and globally accountable. As India’s rhino population recovers and mangroves expand, this announcement adds to the narrative of a country refusing to be a victim of climate change, instead, choosing to be its most responsible custodian.
In Abu Dhabi, amid delegates from 160 nations, India didn’t merely announce a policy. It rekindled a promise: that progress and preservation can thrive side by side, and that the story of the Earth’s future cannot be written without India’s hand in it.
