India has launched the National Red List Assessment (NRLA) initiative to fulfil commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change, Kirti Vardhan Singh, unveiled India’s Vision 2025–2030 for the NRLA, which aims to document and assess the extinction risks of about 11,000 species, including 7,000 species of flora and 4,000 species of fauna, across the country’s diverse ecosystems. The announcement was part of the ministry’s report titled ‘National Red List Assessment of Indian Flora and Fauna’.
The framework for the assessment has been prepared by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), in close collaboration with IUCN-India and the Centre for Species Survival, India. “This vision outlines our roadmap for a nationally coordinated, inclusive and science-based system to assess and monitor the conservation status of our species,” Singh said.
Addressing the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the minister informed that India is among the world’s 17 megadiverse countries, home to four of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots: the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, Indo-Burma, and Sundaland.
“Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world’s land area, it harbours nearly 8% of the global flora and 7.5% of global fauna, with 28% of the plants and over 30% of the animals being endemic. India has long upheld robust legal frameworks for protection of biodiversity, foremost among them, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, recently amended in 2022 to extend protection to species listed under CITES appendices,” he said.
“To fulfil our commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), India has launched the National Red List Assessment initiative, aligned with IUCN global standards,” Singh added.
This initiative will establish a nationally coordinated red-listing system, a tool for accurate assessment, conservation planning, and informed policy development. The minister laid stress on the important role of documentation of traditional knowledge in biodiversity conservation.
Singh said the goal is to publish National Red Data Books for both flora and fauna by 2030 for evidence-based conservation, development planning, and threat mitigation.
Since 1970, global vertebrate populations have declined by an estimated 73%, while deforestation has driven the extinction of approximately 40% of plant species. As one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries, India holds a unique responsibility and opportunity to lead biodiversity assessments and conservation efforts, the report states.
As of 2025, the IUCN Red List has assessed 169,420 species, with plans to assess an additional 94,000 species and to reassess 142,000 species by 2030. The vision of the project is to establish a nationally coordinated, participatory, and upgradable Red Listing system that accurately reflects the conservation status of India’s biodiversity.
The project envisages the following key outcomes: a trained cadre of at least 300 qualified Red List assessors created within the country; a minimum of five national level trainers certified to conduct Red List assessment training; a national list of flora and fauna prioritised for assessments; establishment of National Species Specialist Group to guide and oversee assessments; peer reviewed species assessments published independently and integrated into a national database; assessments to determine status and extinction risks completed for at least 11,000 species (7,000 species of flora and 4,000 species of fauna).
