Dr. C. Jyothsna
Assistant Professor of Zoology, Nagarjuna Government College (Autonomous), Nalgonda, Telangana.
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http://doi.org/10.37648/ijrst.v14i01.006
India is one of the world's megadiverse countries and supports a remarkable diversity of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems. Although India occupies only about 2.4% of the world's geographical area, it supports approximately 7–8% of recorded global species diversity. The country's wildlife includes globally important populations of tiger, Asian elephant, Asiatic lion, greater one-horned rhinoceros, leopard, wild buffalo, snow leopard, gharial, several species of primates and numerous threatened birds and reptiles. Four global biodiversity hotspots—the Himalayas, Western Ghats, Indo-Burma region and Nicobar-related island ecosystems—occur partly within India. The present study assesses India's wildlife diversity and identifies major conservation priorities using secondary information, with particular emphasis on data available for or referring to the 2022 assessment period. The study examines population trends of selected flagship species, protected-area conservation, habitat fragmentation, human-wildlife conflict, invasive species, poaching, climate change and the need for landscape-level conservation. The 2022 All India Tiger Estimation estimated India's tiger population at 3,682 individuals, with an estimated range of 3,167–3,925. The assessment covered approximately 6.41 lakh km of survey effort and used camera trapping and spatially explicit capture-recapture approaches. The findings indicate that India has achieved measurable conservation gains for several flagship species, but species recovery remains uneven across landscapes. Conservation priorities should therefore extend beyond individual protected areas towards ecological corridors, habitat restoration, community participation, scientific monitoring, reduction of human-wildlife conflict and stronger protection of critically endangered species. The study concludes that India's future wildlife conservation strategy requires an integrated landscape approach combining protected areas, community-managed landscapes, ecological corridors, species recovery programmes and climate-resilient habitat management.
Keywords: Wildlife diversity; biodiversity; India; conservation; protected areas; tiger; elephant; habitat fragmentation; endangered species; human-wildlife conflict.
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