Approximately 10 per cent of India’s total geographical area—totalling 3,19,675 sq. km—comprises low-elevation semi-arid Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs), such as open savannas, shrublands, woodland savannas, deserts, saline areas, and ravines. ONEs support rural livelihoods in arid and semi-arid areas.
However, such landscapes in India have historically been unrecognised and undervalued despite sustaining biodiversity, people and their livelihoods, and sequestering carbon. These expansive landscapes support over 1,200 species of grasses and a suite of specialised wildlife, from the stately Great Indian Bustard to swift blackbucks and elusive wolves.
Less than 5 per cent of ONEs fall under India’s Protected Areas Network, and a majority of ONEs fall under the government’s wasteland classification. They are also being degraded due to land conversion, invasive plants, and shifting climates. However, these landscapes are critical and need to be recognised as distinct ecosystems with unique socio-ecological characteristics.
The Vision Document: A Blueprint for Species Assessments
India recently launched the Vision 2025–2030 for the National Red List Assessment (NRLA), a comprehensive framework 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 a roadmap for a nationally coordinated, science-based system to assess and monitor the conservation status of the country’s species.
It emerges as a timely and ambitious blueprint, committing to evaluate the extinction risks of 11,000 species—7,000 plants and 4,000 animals—by 2030. This initiative aligns with global IUCN standards and aims to shine a spotlight on overlooked habitats like grasslands.
At its core, the Vision establishes a coordinated system for red listing, prioritising species based on endemicity, protection status, trade pressures, and ecological roles. For plants, BSI's plan includes a dedicated National Red Data Book on grasses, recognising these foundational species that anchor open ecosystems, prevent soil erosion, and store significant reserves of below-ground carbon.
Though the official list of flora and fauna that is going to be assessed is not available publicly, one can make a reasoned assumption of what some of those species might be, drawing from the document and the existing lists that they say they will be drawing from.
Grasses often endemic to regions such as the Deccan Plateau will undergo phased assessments starting with 2,163 species in the first year, scaling to cover macro-fungi, lichens, and algae that thrive in these open environments. This focus is crucial, as grasslands nurture endemic flora vulnerable to habitat loss, with the Vision's emphasis on fragile ecosystems ensuring species adapted to specific niches are not ignored.
On the fauna side, ZSI's assessments target high-priority groups like birds and mammals, encompassing grassland specialists. The Great Indian Bustard, a critically endangered icon of arid grasslands with fewer than 150 individuals left, is highlighted on the document's cover and falls under protected categories, guaranteeing its evaluation. Similarly, species such as the Bengal Florican, blackbuck, and Indian wolf—many endemic or listed under the Wildlife Protection Act and CITES—will be assessed through a structured timeline, with 563 species per year initially, and ramping up to 929 in the final year.
By integrating data from field surveys, literature, and citizen science, the Vision creates a dynamic national database to track status changes, effectively serving as a monitoring tool for grassland-dependent species facing threats like power lines, agricultural encroachment, and invasive Prosopis juliflora in areas like Gujarat's Banni Grasslands.
Alignment with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
Incorporating open ecosystems and their specialist fauna and flora into the National Red List advances India’s reporting obligations under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), the 2022 agreement under the Convention on Biological Diversity. With 23 targets to meet by 2030, the assessments provide concrete data for key indicators. Target 4, on halting extinctions, benefits from evaluations of species like the bustard, enabling recovery strategies and updates to the Red List Index, which tracks risk trends. Target 1, which emphasises planning and managing of biodiversity-rich areas, gains from mapping grassland ecosystems. The Vision's focus on underrepresented taxa supports target 3's goal of protecting 30 per cent of lands, identifying Key Biodiversity Areas in grasslands like the Terai floodplains and other vulnerable grasslands. Target 8, linking biodiversity to climate resilience, is enhanced by assessing carbon-rich open habitats vulnerable to droughts.
Globally, this aligns with IUCN ambitions to assess 94,000 more species by 2030, contributing to the Global Species Action Plan and Sustainable Development Goal 15. By building assessor capacity and an updatable database, India can enhance international reporting and attract funding from bodies like the Global Environment Facility for grassland restoration.
Recent IUCN Updates Highlight Grassland Vulnerabilities
Recently, during IUCN’s latest Red List update, of the 12 Indian species which have been reassessed, four bird species inhabiting ONEs in India have been ‘uplisted’, indicating increased concerns regarding their population trends. All four species depend on habitats like grasslands, deserts, croplands, hilly scrublands, and fallow lands. These include the Indian Courser, Indian Roller, Long-billed Grasshopper and the Rufous-tailed Lark.
Another significant event pertains to the Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) being evaluated as a separate entity from the broader grey wolf species for the first time. The IUCN’s global panel of canid specialists estimates that only about 3,093 Indian wolves remain across India and Pakistan, placing the population in the “vulnerable” category on the Red List. They, too, are primarily located in ONEs. This signals a growing urgency to conserve the habitat that these species call home.
Evolving Conservation Policy in India
In this backdrop, while the Vision marks progress, it also invites constructive evolution in policy. India's conservation has historically leaned toward forests, with initiatives like the National Forest Policy and Green India Mission emphasising tree cover, achieving notable gains but sometimes at the expense of open habitats through afforestation in natural grasslands. Building on the Vision's inclusive approach, policies could integrate biome-specific guidelines, redirecting resources from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds to restore native grasses and involve pastoral communities. This shift would protect grasslands' unique ecology, ensuring a balanced "New India" where all ecosystems thrive.
Tangible Benefits of the Red List Assessment for Grasslands
The Vision's assessments promise direct, actionable outcomes for ONEs:
Directly Challenge "Wasteland" Classification: The mandated publication of the National Red Data Book of Grasses of India provides irrefutable scientific evidence of the high species richness and endemism of ONEs. This is the foundation needed to formally challenge and eliminate the policy term "wasteland."
Designate New Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs): Red Listing threatened and endemic grassland species automatically generates data required by global criteria to designate large swathes of grasslands as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs).
Re-direct Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds: The Red List assessment requires documenting threats. If afforestation in these ecosystems is identified as a high-impact threat to endemic grassland species, this data can be used to legally argue for redirecting CAMPA funds toward native grassland and savanna restoration.
Establish Biome-Specific Management Guidelines: The assessment will identify the specific Conservation Actions Needed for keystone flora (grasses) and indicator fauna. This encourages the ministry to create specific, nuanced, and scientific grassland management guidelines rather than relying on generic policies.
Develop a Quantifiable Grassland Health Index (RLI): The Red List Index (RLI) can be calculated specifically for the assessed suite of grassland specialist species. This provides a clear, quantitative metric to monitor the health of ONEs and measure the effectiveness of any subsequent conservation interventions.
Inform Targeted Land-Use Zoning: The detailed Geographic Distribution and Area of Occupancy (AOO) calculations for localised endemic ONE species can directly inform state-level land-use zoning decisions, enabling industrial or infrastructure projects to be placed in more suited locations.
Initiatives like this Vision have tremendous potential to safeguard ecosystems like India's grasslands by bridging science and policy. Prioritising these habitats will help India be a front-runner in terms of meeting global commitments, and it will also secure a resilient future for its unique biodiversity and dependent communities.
Dr Abi T. Vanak is the Director, Centre for Policy Design, ATREE, and Sachin Pernacca Sashidhar is a Senior Policy Analyst, Centre for Policy Design, ATREE.