Parliament Question: SOP for Scientific Identification of threatened Species

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3519 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.08.2026 SOP for Scientific Identification of threatened Species

3519. SHRI MANISH TEWARI:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to

state:

(a) the details of the 159 plant and 173 animal species currently officially designated and notified as threatened under Section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 across the identified 17 States and 3 Union Territories, State-wise;

(b) the targeted execution timeline, structural budgetary allocations and implementation guidelines provided in the new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to assist State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils in launching mandatory species recovery and conservation action plans;

(c) the precise scientific validation criteria and field-assessment methodologies deployed by the Botanical Survey of India and the Zoological Survey of India to authenticate local field data and traditional ecological knowledge during the local identification process; and

(d) the specific statutory enforcement mechanisms under the 2025 Benefit-Sharing Regulations that mandate differential financial obligations and benefit-sharing collections for biological resources derived exclusively from these newly notified threatened species? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) to (d): As per Section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (as amended in 2023), the Central Government, in consultation with the concerned State Government, may from time to time notify any species which is on the verge of extinction or likely to become extinct in the near future as a threatened species and prohibit or regulate collection thereof for any purpose and take appropriate steps to rehabilitate and preserve those species.

So far, 159 plant and 174 animal species have been notified as threatened species under Section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (as amended in 2023), and the list of threatened species notified under Section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (as amended in 2023) across 17 States and three Union Territories is published on the National Biodiversity Authority website www.nbaindia.org.

As per the recently published Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the National Biodiversity Authority on 16.06.2026, the State Biodiversity Board or Union Territory Biodiversity Council, in association with the Botanical Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India, Forest Departments, scientific institutions, or any other organization, shall undertake a scientificassessment that shall include population trends, geographic range, habitat quality, habitat fragmentation, exploitation pressures, reproductive biology, ecological requirements, and extinction risk. The objective of the SOP is to establish a transparent, science-based, participatory framework for the identification, assessment, notification, conservation, rehabilitation, monitoring, and periodic review of threatened species under Section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (as amended in 2023).

In the SOP, there is no mention of execution timelines, structural budgetary allocations, or implementation guidelines to assist State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils in launching mandatory species recovery and conservation action plans, as the Central Government, in consultation with the concerned State Government, may from time to time notify the threatened species under Section 38 of the Act.

The Access and Benefit Sharing Regulations, 2025 under regulation 4 and 5 states that in case of biological resource having conservation value or high economic value such as red sanders, sandalwood, agarwood or any other items as decided by the Authority from time to time, and including threatened species notified under section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (as amended in 2023), the benefit sharing shall not be less than five percent of the proceeds of the auction or sale amount or the purchase price, as the case may be, as determined by the Authority on case to case basis, as upfront payment.

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