Editorials, Opinions & Explained2 Items

Core TopicImportantConcise

OpinionsGS Paper II · GS Paper III

01Species Recovery in India — From the Brink to a Comeback02WHO Pandemic Agreement — India’s Stakes

OpinionsSigned Op-Eds · Environment & International Relations / Health

01

From the Brink to a Comeback: What It Takes to Recover India’s Threatened Species

Core TopicOpinionGS-III · Environment — Conservation, Biodiversity, EIAPrelims + MainsThe Hindu · Op-Ed

Marking Wildlife Week (2–8 October), the article argues that India’s recovery stories — the Asiatic lion, vultures, Nilgiri tahr, dugong and snow leopard — prove that species can be pulled back from the brink, but only through sustained science, steady finance and genuine community partnership.

◈ Basics First — What Is “Species Recovery”?

Species recovery is the deliberate reversal of a population decline until a species is self-sustaining in the wild and no longer needs emergency intervention.

It goes beyond mere legal protection: a species can be listed under the strictest schedule and still slide towards extinction if its habitat, prey and breeding base keep shrinking.

• In-situ conservation — protecting species in their natural habitat: National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation & Community Reserves, Biosphere Reserves.
• Ex-situ conservation — outside the natural habitat: conservation breeding centres, zoos, gene and seed banks; the goal is eventual reintroduction.
• Translocation — moving individuals to establish a second population and reduce the risk of a single catastrophe (disease, fire) wiping out a species.
• The standard toolkit: threat removal → habitat restoration → population monitoring → breeding / translocation → community stewardship.

Static Background — The Legal & Institutional Scaffolding

Wildlife conservation in India rests on a layered framework.

The 42nd Constitutional Amendment (1976) added Article 48A (State to protect environment, forests and wildlife) and Article 51A(g) (citizens’ duty), and moved “Forests” and “Protection of wild animals and birds” from the State List to the Concurrent List (Entries 17A and 17B).

• Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 — Schedule I gives the highest protection; the 2022 Amendment rationalised the schedules from six to four and added a schedule for CITES-listed species.
• Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (amended 2023) — implements the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); three-tier structure of NBA (Chennai), State Biodiversity Boards and Biodiversity Management Committees.
• Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH) — a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with three components: support to Protected Areas, protection of wildlife outside PAs, and Recovery Programmes for Critically Endangered Species — now covering 24 identified species.
• International anchors: CITES (1973) regulates trade; CMS / Bonn Convention (1979) protects migratory species — India hosted CMS COP13 at Gandhinagar (2020) with the Great Indian Bustard as mascot.
• Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022) — Target 4 calls for urgent action to halt human-induced extinction and enable species recovery; India’s updated NBSAP (presented at CBD COP16, Cali, 2024) carries 23 national targets aligned to it.

◈ Basics — The IUCN Red List

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), founded in 1948 and headquartered at Gland, Switzerland, has published the Red List of Threatened Species since 1964.

It is the global yardstick of extinction risk, assessing species against quantitative criteria such as population decline, range size and number of mature individuals.

Only three categories — Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU) — are counted as “threatened”. Data Deficient species are not “safe”; they are simply unknown.

Figure 1 — The IUCN Red List Category Ladder

THREATENED (CR + EN + VU)EXEWCRENVUNTLCDDNEExtinctExtinct inthe WildCriticallyEndangeredEndangeredVulnerableNearThreatenedLeastConcernDataDeficientNotEvaluatedRISK UNKNOWNADEQUATE DATA◄ higher extinction risk · lower extinction risk ►

Recovery is measured by movement down this ladder — e.g. the saiga antelope moved from CR to NT and the scimitar-horned oryx from EW to EN in the December 2023 update.

The Current Hook — Global and Indian Comebacks

A Great Indian Bustard (GIB) chick has hatched in Kutch, Gujarat after about a decade — significant because the Kutch population had dwindled to a handful of birds. Globally, the article cites three benchmarks of what determined action achieves.

• Iberian lynx (Spain–Portugal) — from 62 mature individuals (2001) to 648 (2022) through habitat and prey (rabbit) restoration, captive breeding and release; IUCN downlisted it from EN to VU in 2024.
• Scimitar-horned oryx (Chad) — declared Extinct in the Wild (2000); reintroduced into the Ouadi Rimé–Ouadi Achim reserve from 2016; now Endangered.
• Saiga antelope (Kazakhstan) — recovered from mass die-offs and poaching; moved from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened (2023).

▤ India’s Biodiversity — The Numbers

2.4%World land area

~8% / 7.5%World flora / fauna

1,012Threatened of 7,516 assessed

7.2%Animal species assessed

• One of 17 megadiverse countries (Conservation International, 1998) and home to parts of 4 of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots — Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats & Sri Lanka, and Sundaland (Nicobar Islands).
• Endemism: around 28% of plants and over 30% of animals are found nowhere else.
• Of 7,516 Indian animal species assessed for the IUCN Red List, 1,012 (≈13.5%) are threatened — but these cover only 7.2% of documented animal species, so the true scale of risk is unknown.
• National Red List Roadmap — launched by India at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Abu Dhabi (2025); aims to produce National Red Data Books for plants and animals by 2030.

India’s Recovery Ledger — Species by Species

• Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) — Endangered, Schedule I, endemic to the Western Ghats, State animal of Tamil Nadu. Project Nilgiri Tahr uses population surveys, radio-collaring, habitat mapping across Tamil Nadu and Keralam, with WII, IUCN and TANUVAS; surveys recorded 1,303 (2025) and 1,364 (2026). Largest stronghold: Eravikulam National Park.
• Vultures — India’s three resident Gyps species (white-rumped, long-billed / Indian, slender-billed) are Critically Endangered after a >95% crash in the 1990s–2000s caused by the veterinary painkiller diclofenac in livestock carcasses. Diclofenac’s veterinary use was banned in 2006; aceclofenac and ketoprofen followed in 2023.
• Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore (Haryana) — run by the Haryana Forest Department and BNHS; India’s flagship vulture-breeding site. Madhya Pradesh’s 2025 census recorded 12,981 vultures, up from 8,397 (2019); the Segur Plateau and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve host breeding populations in the south.
• Asiatic lion — confined to the Gir landscape of Saurashtra; rose from 674 (2020) to 891 (2025), occupying a wider area through habitat management, monitoring and community support. The single-population risk remains: the Supreme Court (2013) had directed a second home.
• Greater one-horned rhinoceros — Vulnerable, Schedule I; secured through monitoring, grassland management, invasive-plant control and translocation (Indian Rhino Vision 2020). Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary (Assam) has one of the highest rhino densities anywhere.
• Clouded leopard — Vulnerable, State animal of Meghalaya; its action plan identifies 14 priority landscapes across the Northeast to keep populations connected.
• Dugong (“sea cow”) — the only strictly herbivorous marine mammal, dependent on seagrass meadows; Schedule I. Tamil Nadu notified India’s first Dugong Conservation Reserve over 448.34 sq km of Palk Bay. A 2026 WII assessment estimated 270 dugongs — 158 in Palk Bay and 112 in the Gulf of Mannar.
• Snow leopard — Vulnerable; India’s first scientific estimate under SPAI (2024) put the number at 718, with Ladakh holding the largest share. At Kibber (Spiti, Himachal Pradesh), local women work with the Forest Department and conservation NGOs on camera-trapping and protection.

Figure 2 — Recovery in Numbers (each panel on its own scale)

Asiatic lionGir, Gujarat67489120202025+32%VulturesMadhya Pradesh census8,39712,98120192025+55%Nilgiri tahrSynchronised surveys1,3031,36420252026+4.7%Iberian lynxMature adults, Iberia6264820012022≈10.5×

Recovery speeds differ sharply: long-lived, slow-breeding species (tahr) gain slowly, while species whose single main threat is removed (lynx prey, vulture drug) can rebound fast. Data as cited in the article.

Why Recovery Succeeds — The Common Ingredients

Across these cases the drivers are similar, even though each species recovers differently. The article’s core point is that no single tool works alone; what matters is staying with a species long enough for trends to turn.

• Removing the primary threat — e.g. the diclofenac ban for vultures; anti-poaching for rhinos.
• Habitat-first action — grassland management (rhino, GIB), seagrass protection (dugong), corridor connectivity (clouded leopard).
• Science close to the field — population estimation, radio-telemetry, genetic analysis, conservation breeding.
• Community stewardship — fishers releasing net-caught dugongs are compensated for damaged nets; Kibber’s women run camera traps; Pobitora links rhino protection to livelihoods and conflict reduction.
• Political and fiscal continuity — recovery spans successive budgets and must shape land-use, infrastructure and livelihood decisions.

Critical View — Gaps That Remain

• Knowledge gap — with only 7.2% of animal species assessed, priorities are set by charisma, not risk; invertebrates, amphibians, fish and plants are under-studied.
• Funding asymmetry — “flagship” species attract money while obscure ones (the Madras hedgehog, striped hyena, mahseer) struggle; Tamil Nadu’s new Endangered Species Conservation Fund is an attempt to correct this.
• Development–conservation friction — the GIB case shows how overhead power lines in renewable-energy zones collide with recovery; the Supreme Court (2021, modified 2024) had to balance the two, recognising a right against the adverse effects of climate change under Articles 14 and 21.
• Single-site vulnerability — Asiatic lions in one landscape, dugongs dependent on fragile seagrass, GIB in a few grassland pockets.
• Capacity deficit — frontline staff often lack training in surveys, habitat assessment, breeding and genetics; vacancies weaken field enforcement.

◈ Way Forward

• Use the National Red List Assessment to expand the IDWH recovery list beyond 24 species on the basis of measured risk.
• State-level species recovery plans with mapped habitats, clear timelines and measurable outcomes, reviewed through adaptive management.
• Blended conservation finance — State endangered-species funds pooling government, CSR, philanthropy and science; global models like the Phoenix Species Project (Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund, $200 million for 100 species, launched 2026).
• Field-science units embedded in Forest Departments, with institutions like WII, BNHS and veterinary universities.
• Meaningful community roles — paid participation in surveys, compensation for losses, recognition of traditional knowledge.

▤ Prelims Snapshot

• Sangai (brow-antlered deer) — Keibul Lamjao National Park on Loktak Lake, Manipur: the world’s only floating national park (on phumdis).
• Hangul (Kashmir stag) — Dachigam National Park; State animal of Jammu & Kashmir; Schedule I.
• Great Indian Bustard — Critically Endangered, Schedule I, CMS Appendix I; State bird of Rajasthan.
• Snow leopard — State animal of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh; Project Snow Leopard (2009).
• Gulf of Mannar — Marine National Park (1986) and Biosphere Reserve (1989), a key dugong habitat.

✎ Mains Practice Question

“Legal protection alone does not recover a threatened species.” Discuss with reference to India’s recent species-recovery experiences, and suggest how a National Red List Assessment can reorient conservation priorities. 15 marks · 250 words

02

India’s Stakes in the Global Pandemic Agreement: Sovereignty, Solidarity and a South–South Role

Core TopicOpinionGS-II · IR — Global Institutions; HealthPrelims + MainsThe Hindu · Op-Ed

At the UN High-Level Meeting (September 2026) on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR), India backed global cooperation but framed it within national sovereignty. The article argues that India must lead the Global South in finishing the WHO Pandemic Agreement — especially its pending PABS annex.

◈ Basics First — Epidemic, Pandemic, PHEIC

• Epidemic — an unusual rise in cases in a region; pandemic — an epidemic spread across countries and continents, affecting large populations.
• PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern) — declared by the WHO Director-General on advice of an Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (IHR), 2005. Eight have been declared, from H1N1 (2009) to mpox (2024).
• “Pandemic emergency” — a new, higher alert tier added by the 2024 IHR amendments, which entered into force in September 2025.
• PPPR — the full cycle: prevention (stopping spill-over), preparedness (surveillance, labs, stockpiles) and response (vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics, health workforce).

Static Background — How Global Health Law Is Made

The World Health Organization was established on 7 April 1948 (now World Health Day), with headquarters at Geneva; its supreme body is the World Health Assembly (WHA). The WHO Constitution provides two legal routes, and the difference between them is a frequent exam trap.

• Article 19 — Conventions / Agreements: adopted by a two-thirds WHA vote; bind a country only after it ratifies. Before 2025 it had been used only once — the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC, 2003).
• Article 21 — Regulations: e.g. the IHR (first adopted 1969, overhauled in 2005); bind all members automatically unless a State rejects or reserves within a set period.
• Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework (2011) — a non-binding precedent linking sharing of flu virus samples with sharing of benefits (vaccines, antivirals).
• Nagoya Protocol (2010) under the CBD — the general Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) regime for genetic resources; India implements ABS through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Figure 3 — The Road to a Global Pandemic Regime

1948WHO ConstitutionArt. 19 treaty power1969IHR adopted(revised 2005)2003FCTC — firstArt. 19 treaty2011PIP Frameworkflu virus sharing2020COVID-19 PHEIC;TRIPS waiver bid2021WHA special sessionsets up INB20231st UN HLMon PPPR2024IHR amended:“pandemic emergency”2025WHA78 adoptsPandemic Agreement20262nd UN HLM;PABS still pendingFrom voluntary frameworks to a binding treaty — COVID-19 was the turning point

The Pandemic Agreement is only the second treaty ever adopted under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, after the FCTC.

The Pandemic Agreement — What It Contains

After the second special session of the WHA (December 2021) created an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), the Pandemic Agreement was adopted at the 78th WHA (May 2025) — 124 in favour, none against, 11 abstentions. India voted in favour.

• Prevention & One Health — surveillance at the human–animal–environment interface, where most new pathogens originate.
• Research, local production and technology transfer — geographically diversified manufacturing; transfer of technology on “mutually agreed” (voluntary) terms.
• Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) — Article 12: rapid sharing of pathogen samples and genetic sequence data, in return for benefits — participating manufacturers to make 20% of real-time production available to WHO in a pandemic emergency (at least 10% as donation, the rest at affordable prices).
• Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network, a Coordinating Financial Mechanism, health-workforce strengthening, and a Conference of the Parties to govern implementation.
• Sovereignty clause (Article 24) — nothing gives WHO power to direct national laws or mandate measures such as lockdowns, travel bans or vaccination.
• Entry into force — it opens for signature only after the PABS annex is adopted, and enters into force after 60 ratifications.

The Current Hook — The 2026 UN High-Level Meeting

The first UN HLM on PPPR (2023) adopted a Political Declaration and scheduled a follow-up in 2026. At the September 2026 HLM in New York, India succeeded in embedding the multilateral components of the Agreement within the principle of national sovereignty, and stressed two conditions for credible cooperation.

• Equitable access to drugs, vaccines and therapeutics, and creation of global public goods such as digital health infrastructure.
• Respect for national sovereignty — member-states shape policy interventions according to national circumstances.
• By contrast, the United States — whose withdrawal from WHO took effect in January 2026 — rejected the Declaration, objecting to PABS and to WHO’s role in declaring pandemics.

Figure 4 — North–South Fault Lines in the Negotiations

Global North (HICs)IssueGlobal South (LICs/LMICs)Binding prevention &surveillance dutiesOne Health surveillanceNo new duties withoutassured fundingVoluntary, “mutuallyagreed” transfer; IP safeTechnology transferBinding targets andIP flexibilitiesFast, open access topathogen samples & dataPABS annexGuaranteed share ofvaccines & medicinesNo external say overdomestic commitmentsNational sovereigntyPolicy space to suitnational capacity

Both blocs invoked sovereignty — the North to avoid binding transfer obligations, the South to avoid unfunded surveillance duties. Indicative summary of negotiating positions.

Why India Has High Stakes

India sits on both sides of the divide: a manufacturing power that depends on others’ patents and inputs. An equitable regime therefore serves both its national interest and its claim to speak for the Global South.

• “Pharmacy of the world” — among the largest vaccine producers by volume, yet patents for many vaccines it makes are held by global pharmaceutical firms.
• Import dependence for APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients), largely from China — the PLI Scheme for bulk drugs (2020) aims to reduce this vulnerability.
• Technology needs — access to advanced technology for high-grade PPE and medical devices.
• COVID-era record — Vaccine Maitri (2021) supplies abroad and the India–South Africa TRIPS waiver proposal (October 2020), which led to a narrower vaccine-patent decision at the WTO’s MC12 (2022).
• Digital public goods — CoWIN, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (2021) and the Global Initiative on Digital Health launched during India’s G20 Presidency (2023).

The Article’s Three-Track Strategy for India

• 1. Technical partnerships — on One Health, surveillance and health-workforce strengthening with Global South countries, building trust and a “store” of workable solutions to sovereignty dilemmas.
• 2. Leverage in groupings — the G20 health track (the H20 summit under the UK’s 2027 G20 Presidency lists pandemic preparedness as a core agenda) and “Partners for Multilateralism” (launched 2026 by the EU, with India among co-sponsors).
• 3. Domestic alignment — national rules on access to biological material and benefit distribution must meet the equity standards India seeks globally.

◈ India’s Domestic PPPR Architecture — Static Pegs

• Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 (amended 2020 to protect health workers) and the Disaster Management Act, 2005 — the legal backbone used during COVID-19; a comprehensive public-health law (draft Bill, 2017) is still pending.
• Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (2004) and its digital successor, the Integrated Health Information Platform, run through the NCDC.
• PM–Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (2021) — ₹64,180 crore for critical-care blocks, public-health laboratories and surveillance.
• National One Health Mission and the National Institute of One Health, Nagpur — integrating human, animal and environmental health.

Critical View

• Unfinished treaty — without the PABS annex, the Agreement cannot open for signature; a weak annex could repeat COVID-era vaccine inequity.
• Sovereignty as a double-edged sword — it protects policy space, but if every State invokes it, collective obligations become thin.
• Absence of major actors — the US exit from WHO weakens financing and reach.
• Voluntary technology transfer — “mutually agreed terms” may leave the South dependent on goodwill in the next crisis.
• India’s own consistency test — its ABS regime and benefit-sharing practices will be scrutinised when it demands equity abroad.

▤ Prelims Snapshot

• WHO Constitution: Art. 19 = conventions (ratification needed); Art. 21 = regulations (binding unless rejected).
• Pandemic Agreement: adopted WHA78, May 2025; 124–0–11; needs 60 ratifications.
• PABS: 20% real-time production to WHO in a pandemic emergency, ≥10% donated.
• IHR amendments (2024) created the “pandemic emergency” tier; in force September 2025.
• One Health Quadripartite: FAO, UNEP, WHO, WOAH.

✎ Mains Practice Question

The WHO Pandemic Agreement attempts to reconcile national sovereignty with global solidarity. Examine the key North–South fault lines in its negotiation and suggest how India can use its pharmaceutical and digital-health strengths to shape an equitable pandemic regime. 15 marks · 250 words