India Launches First-Ever Guide to Grasslands and Open Natural Ecosystems at UNCCD COP17, Ulaanbaatar

Why in News

On August 17, 2026, India launched its first-ever Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) of India at the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The Guide — a publication of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) — brings together, for the first time in a single authoritative document, information on India's major open natural ecosystems: their geography, ecology, biodiversity, carbon significance, and the communities that depend on them.

Background

India's conservation policy and legislative framework have historically prioritised forests — reflected in the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) — grasslands, savannas, deserts, rocky plateaus, ravines, scrublands, and coastal grasslands — have been classified as "wastelands" in revenue records and have often been converted to plantations, agriculture, or settlements with little regulatory oversight.

This misclassification has had severe consequences:

• Grassland species like the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), Lesser Florican, and Blackbuck face habitat loss as grasslands are converted or invaded by exotic tree plantations.
• India's pastoral communities — Rabaris, Bharwads, Dhangars, Van Gujjars — who have managed these ecosystems for centuries face loss of livelihood.
• Significant soil carbon stores and grassland biodiversity have been lost without quantification or policy protection.

The UNCCD, adopted in 1994, is one of the three Rio Conventions alongside the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UNFCCC. Its goal is to combat desertification, land degradation, and drought — particularly in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas. India is a party and has committed to achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030 — restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land.

Current Developments

About the Guide

The Guide is a comprehensive reference document covering:

• Major ecosystem types: Himalayan and Terai grasslands, Thar and Banni (Rann of Kutch) landscapes, Deccan savannas, rocky plateaus, ravines, scrublands, and coastal and desert ecosystems.
• Biodiversity documentation: Species of flora and fauna uniquely adapted to open ecosystems — the GIB, wolf, blackbuck, chinkara, florican, and numerous insect and plant species.
• Thematic sections on:
  • Pastoralism: Mobile herding communities that have co-evolved with these ecosystems, their traditional knowledge, and their role in ecosystem maintenance through seasonal grazing.
  • Fire ecology: The role of controlled burning in maintaining grassland structure and preventing bush encroachment — a traditional practice being scientifically validated.
  • Carbon sequestration: Grasslands store significant carbon in belowground biomass and soils — often underestimated in India's national carbon inventories.
• Socio-economic significance: Pastoral, livestock-based, and agricultural livelihoods of millions of families who depend on these ecosystems.
• Conservation imperatives: The Guide stresses the need for science-based conservation of ONEs alongside forests, noting that ONEs are not "wastelands" but distinct, irreplaceable ecosystems.

Minister's Statement

The Union Minister described the Guide as "an important step towards recognising India's open natural ecosystems" and stressed the need for their conservation on par with forests. The statement signals a potential policy shift — from treating ONEs as residual land available for conversion to recognising them as priority conservation landscapes.

UNCCD COP17 Context

COP17 in Ulaanbaatar is discussing global progress on LDN, drought policy, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's (KMGBF's) 30×30 target (protecting 30% of land and oceans by 2030). India's Guide launch aligns the country's biodiversity and land-management commitments with international frameworks — contributing to India's COP17 country position.

Key Facts

• Document: Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) of India — first-ever such guide.
• Launched by: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India.
• Venue: UNCCD COP17, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia — August 17, 2026.
• UNCCD: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (adopted 1994, in force 1996).
• India's LDN commitment: Restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
• Key ONEs covered: Himalayan grasslands, Terai grasslands, Thar Desert, Banni (Kutch), Deccan Savanna, rocky plateaus, ravines, scrublands, coastal grasslands.
• Thematic sections: Pastoralism, fire ecology, carbon sequestration.
• Key grassland species: Great Indian Bustard (critically endangered), Lesser Florican, Blackbuck, Chinkara, Indian Wolf.
• UNCCD is one of the three Rio Conventions (alongside CBD and UNFCCC) — all signed at the 1992 Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro.
• KMGBF 30×30 target: Protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030 — adopted at CBD COP15 (Montreal, 2022).

Constitutional Provisions

• Article 48A (DPSP): The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife — now implicitly extended to ONEs as the Guide argues for their equivalent status.
• Article 51A(g) (Fundamental Duty): Citizens' duty to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures.
• Article 246 + Entry 17-A, Concurrent List: Forests — after the 42nd Constitutional Amendment (1976) which transferred forests and wildlife from the State List to the Concurrent List; ONEs that fall outside forest classification are governed differently.
• Article 253: Parliament's power to make laws implementing international treaties — India's UNCCD obligations under this power.
• Fifth Schedule (Article 244): Many pastoral communities in ONEs are Scheduled Tribes whose rights over traditional grazing lands are protected; the Guide documents these communities and their ecosystem relationships.

Legal Framework

• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (WPA): Protects grassland species (GIB under Schedule I, highest protection); WPA-protected areas include some grassland sanctuaries (Velavadar, Desert National Park).
• Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980: Restricts diversion of forest land — but ONEs classified as "revenue wasteland" fall outside its ambit, leaving them unprotected from conversion.
• Biological Diversity Act, 2002: Provides for conservation of biological resources including in non-forest areas; Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at Gram Panchayat level can document ONEs.
• Forest Rights Act (Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Recognition of Rights Act), 2006: Recognises community forest resource rights of forest-dwelling communities — analogous rights for pastoral communities in ONEs remain legally ambiguous; the Guide implicitly calls for closing this gap.
• Environment (Protection) Act, 1986: Enables MoEFCC to notify areas as Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) — potentially applicable to critical ONEs.
• UNCCD (1994, in force 1996): International convention obligating India to combat desertification, land degradation, and drought through National Action Programmes (NAPs).

Institutional Framework

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC): Nodal ministry for UNCCD; published the Guide; India's national focal point for UNCCD.
• National Biodiversity Authority (NBA): Statutory body under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 — coordination role for ONEs biodiversity documentation.
• Wildlife Institute of India (WII): Government research institution that has conducted ecological assessments of ONEs, particularly grasslands and their species.
• Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) / Botanical Survey of India (BSI): Document fauna and flora of ONEs.
• UNCCD Secretariat (Bonn, Germany): Administers the Convention; hosts COP sessions.
• KMGBF / CBD Secretariat (Montreal, Canada): The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's 30×30 target aligns with grassland protection as part of broader area-based conservation.
• Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): The 2018 IPBES Land Degradation Assessment found that grasslands and drylands are among the most threatened biomes globally.

Environmental Dimensions

India's ONEs are ecologically undervalued but scientifically critical:

• Carbon storage: Grassland soils store carbon in belowground biomass and organic matter — estimates suggest India's grasslands hold significant soil organic carbon (SOC) that is excluded from national carbon inventories because they are not classified as forests. Including ONEs in carbon accounting could improve India's NDC baseline.
• Hydrological services: Grasslands and open ecosystems regulate water flows, recharge groundwater, and reduce soil erosion — particularly important in semi-arid regions prone to desertification.
• Biodiversity hotspot: ENEs support species not found in forests — the GIB (fewer than 150 individuals remain, critically endangered), Indian Wolf (Schedule I WPA), Blackbuck, and the Lesser Florican. Grassland bird diversity is a distinct assemblage from forest birds.
• Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN): India's commitment to restore 26 million hectares requires recognising degraded grasslands as priority restoration targets, not just degraded forests.
• SDG 15 (Life on Land): Targets 15.3 (combat desertification, restore degraded land by 2030) and 15.5 (halt biodiversity loss) are directly relevant.
• SDG 13 (Climate Action): Grassland carbon sequestration contributes to India's NDC if properly accounted.

Social Dimensions

• Pastoral communities: Millions of pastoral households — Rabari and Bharwad (Gujarat), Dhangar (Maharashtra), Van Gujjar (Uttarakhand/Himachal), Kuruma (Andhra/Telangana) — have managed ONEs for centuries. Their seasonal migration (transhumance) is a sustainable land-use system that prevents overgrazing and maintains grassland health.
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): Pastoral communities possess detailed knowledge of grazing cycles, drought-resistant species, and grassland ecology — the Guide documents this TEK as scientifically valuable.
• Livelihoods: Livestock-based livelihoods from ONEs support dairy production, wool, and meat supply chains — a significant contribution to rural incomes and India's animal husbandry economy.
• Women: Women in pastoral communities bear the primary burden of milking, fodder collection, and household management during seasonal migrations; conservation of ONEs directly protects their resource base.
• Scheduled Tribes and Forest Rights: Fifth Schedule protections for tribal communities in ONEs require policy alignment between the Forest Rights Act (2006) and the regulatory vacuum around non-forest ONEs.

International Relations

• UNCCD and Drylands Diplomacy: India as a major dryland country (Thar Desert, Deccan plateau) has a strategic interest in shaping the UNCCD's post-2025 agenda — the Guide launches at COP17 positions India as a thought leader on non-forest ecosystem conservation.
• Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022): The 30×30 target requires India to expand area-based conservation beyond forests to include ONEs — the Guide is India's first step toward mapping what is available.
• Three Rio Conventions alignment: The Guide's themes — carbon sequestration (UNFCCC), biodiversity (CBD), land degradation (UNCCD) — demonstrate India's integrated approach to all three Rio obligations.
• South-South cooperation: India's experience with pastoral community rights and dryland ecosystem management is relevant to African and Central Asian countries — sharing the Guide at UNCCD COP17 advances India's leadership in South-South environmental cooperation.

Challenges

• Revenue classification as "wasteland": State revenue records classify most ONEs as barren or uncultivable wasteland, enabling conversion without environmental clearance — this legal gap is the single largest threat.
• Afforestation over grasslands: Tree plantation drives under the Green India Mission and CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund) have inadvertently targeted grasslands, replacing open ecosystem biodiversity with monoculture plantations.
• Solar and wind energy: Renewable energy infrastructure increasingly targets open flat terrain that overlaps with critical grassland habitat (GIB habitat in Rajasthan is a documented conflict zone).
• Climate change: Altered rainfall patterns, extended droughts, and temperature rise are shifting the extent and productivity of grasslands, with cascading effects on pastoral communities and wildlife.
• Lack of legal identity: ONEs have no dedicated legal framework equivalent to the Forest (Conservation) Act, leaving them legally unprotected from diversion.
• Baseline data gaps: The extent, condition, and carbon stocks of India's ONEs are not fully mapped — the Guide is a first step but ground-truthing is needed.

Government Initiatives

• Guide to Grasslands and ONEs (2026): First-ever national document recognising India's open natural ecosystems.
• National Action Programme to Combat Desertification (NAP, 2001, updated 2020): India's UNCCD implementation plan — commits to LDN by 2030.
• Green India Mission (GIM): One of eight NAPCC missions; aims to increase forest and tree cover — but must be recalibrated to exclude ONEs from afforestation targets.
• CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority): Funds collected when forest land is diverted; funds must not be used to plant trees on grasslands.
• Project Great Indian Bustard (GIB): Species-specific conservation programme for the GIB — habitat protection of Thar grasslands is central to its survival.
• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) and Livestock insurance schemes: Support pastoral communities' economic resilience.

Way Forward

• The IPBES Land Degradation Assessment (2018) recommended including non-forest ecosystems in national biodiversity strategies — India should integrate the Guide's findings into its updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) submitted under the KMGBF.
• A dedicated Open Natural Ecosystems (Conservation) Act or an amendment to the Forest (Conservation) Act to include ONEs would close the regulatory vacuum — the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, and Forests has flagged grassland protection as a legislative gap.
• The NITI Aayog's SDG India Index should include a grassland health indicator aligned with UNCCD's LDN methodology.
• Recalibrate CAMPA and GIM afforestation targets to exclude grasslands — verified through remote sensing and the Guide's ecosystem maps.
• Formally recognise community grazing rights of pastoral communities over ONEs, analogous to the Forest Rights Act (2006), through a dedicated amendment or executive order.
• Include grassland soil carbon in India's national GHG inventory submitted to the UNFCCC — potentially improving India's NDC baseline and reducing the abatement burden on other sectors.

Previous UPSC Questions

UPSC Prelims 2019 (GS I): A question on the UNCCD and its relationship to India's land degradation commitments. UPSC Mains GS III 2022: Question on India's biodiversity conservation strategy, specifically the gaps in non-forest ecosystem protection.

Possible Mains Questions

1. "India's grasslands and open natural ecosystems have been treated as 'wastelands' by policy and law. Critically examine the ecological, livelihood, and climate consequences of this misclassification and suggest a corrective framework." (GS III — Environment)
2. "Discuss India's obligations under the UNCCD and how the launch of the Guide to Grasslands at UNCCD COP17 represents a shift in India's approach to non-forest ecosystem conservation." (GS II — International Relations + GS III — Environment)

Essay Dimensions

1. "The grassland: India's forgotten ecosystem and its unrecognised keepers."
2. "Afforestation as greenwashing: when good intentions destroy irreplaceable ecosystems."
3. "Pastoralism in the 21st century: traditional knowledge meets modern conservation science."
4. "Land degradation neutrality: can India restore 26 million hectares without seeing what it has?"
5. "The tragedy of the commons revisited: grasslands, pastoral communities, and the failure of property rights."

Interview Questions

1. Why have India's grasslands been legally classified as "wastelands"? What are the ecological consequences of this, and what policy reforms would you recommend?
2. The Great Indian Bustard is critically endangered. What is the single greatest threat to its survival and what is the government doing about it?
3. How does the UNCCD differ from the CBD and UNFCCC? India is a party to all three — are their obligations aligned in the context of grassland conservation?
4. Should afforestation programmes under the Green India Mission and CAMPA be allowed to plant trees on grasslands? What is the scientific evidence?
5. How do pastoral communities' rights over grasslands relate to the Forest Rights Act (2006)? Is there a legal gap, and how should it be addressed?

FAQ

What are Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs)?

Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) are non-forest terrestrial ecosystems characterised by low canopy cover, dominated by grasses, herbs, shrubs, or sparse woody plants. They include grasslands, savannas, deserts, rocky plateaus, ravines, scrublands, and coastal ecosystems — distinct from forests and critically important for biodiversity, carbon storage, and pastoral livelihoods.

What is the UNCCD and what does COP17 mean?

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), adopted in 1994, is one of the three Rio Conventions. It obligates parties to combat desertification, land degradation, and drought. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is its supreme governing body. COP17, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2026, is the 17th session of this governing body.

What is Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN)?

Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is a state in which the amount and quality of land resources, necessary to support ecosystem functions and services, remains stable or increases within a specific time period and ecosystem. India has committed to achieving LDN by 2030 through restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land.

Why is the Guide to Grasslands significant?

It is India's first authoritative, government-issued document recognising the ecological, social, and climate significance of non-forest open ecosystems. It challenges the longstanding policy of treating grasslands as "wastelands" and signals a potential shift toward science-based conservation of ONEs on par with forests.

Further Reading

• PIB — India Launches Guide to Grasslands at UNCCD COP17: pib.gov.in
• UNCCD official website: unccd.int
• MoEFCC — National Action Programme to Combat Desertification: moef.gov.in
• IPBES Land Degradation Assessment (2018): ipbes.net
• Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022): cbd.int