22/02/2020 - Environment

KEY POINTS

India’s proposals

·        India has proposed inclusion of the three species on Appendix-I of the Convention. Appendix-I lists species threatened with extinction, while Appendix-II lists those in need of global cooperation for favourable conservation status.

·        The proposals cleared the first hurdle when they were adopted unanimously by the conference’s committee of the whole.

Grounds on which India has proposed the listing

·        Asian elephant: India said elephants’ inclusion on Appendix-I would ensure better coordination among the range countries, facilitate migration, increase effective habitat area, and reduce killings.

·        Great Indian bustard: Its range stretching across India and Pakistan, it is a critically endangered species with a population of just around 150 individuals.

·        India said there is prima facie evidence that the birds fly across the India-Pakistan border and hence the need for bilateral cooperation for recovery of the species.

·        Bengal florican: This too is a critically endangered species of bird that belongs to the bustard family. India said the present population of the South Asian subspecies has shrunk to around 1,000 individuals and its present habitat been restricted to the Terai and Dooars grassland regions of the Indo-Gangetic and Brahmaputra floodplains.

·        India has also invited the COP13 to adopt the ‘Gandhinagar Declaration’ urging the world community to strive for ensuring ecological connectivity, especially for sustainable management and conservation of migratory species.

·        India has proposed that once adopted, CMS forward the Gandhinagar Declaration to the 15th meeting of UN Convention on Biological Diversity conference in China in October this year, for preparing post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

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