India to assess extinction risk of 11,000 species, prepare 'red list', pg7.

Key Highlights:

• India will assess the extinction risk of approximately 11,000 species of flora and fauna to create a national red list [2025-2030].
• The initiative aligns with India's commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF).
• Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, announced the plan at the World Congress of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Abu Dhabi.
• Currently, 6.33% of India's plant species and 7.2% of its fauna species have been assessed for the IUCN Red List (Global).

Detailed Insights:

• The national red list aims to establish a coordinated system reflecting the conservation status of India's biodiversity.
• The IUCN Red List categorizes species into groups like extinct, critically endangered, vulnerable, and least concern, guiding conservation efforts.
• Existing IUCN Red List assessments for Indian species reveal that 13.4% are in the threatened category, and 13.8% are data deficient.
• The Union Environment Ministry, along with organizations like the Botanical Survey of India and Zoological Survey of India, will lead the assessment.
• Of the species assessed by IUCN, 1,582 are endemic to India, with high endemism among amphibians (79%) and reptiles (54.9%).

Key Concepts Involved:

• Endemism: Species being native to a specific region or country.
• IUCN Red List: A global inventory of the conservation status of biological species.
• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): An international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.