October 2025
In short: India's wildlife, climate and conservation news this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.
Current Affairs — India › Environment · 12 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu
Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.
October 2025's environment round-up beyond the Science digest — India's first cold-desert Biosphere Reserve, two new Ramsar wetlands in Bihar, five fresh MoEFCC species-conservation projects, the IUCN World Conservation Congress's ecocide resolution, a Red List update for Indian birds, the tiger's first-ever Green Status assessment, and India's toughest-yet emission-intensity rules.
October 2025 — At a Glance
Beyond the forest-ranking and elephant-census stories already covered in this month's Science digest, October 2025 carried a genuinely separate stream of environment news. UNESCO designated India's first high-altitude Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve, Bihar gained two new Ramsar wetlands, and the Environment Ministry launched five species-conservation initiatives in one sweep — Project Dolphin's second phase, and fresh projects for the Sloth Bear, Gharial and tigers outside reserves. Globally, the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi recognised ecocide as an international crime, updated the Red List status of a dozen Indian bird species, and released the tiger's first-ever Green Status assessment — even as India notified its toughest-yet Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity rules and found Delhi-NCR the country's worst ozone-pollution hotspot.
1. Biosphere Reserves & Wetlands
Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve — India's first high-altitude cold desert
- What — UNESCO designated the Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve — one of 26 new sites worldwide — to its World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR), taking India's total to 13 biosphere reserves within a global network of 785 sites.
- Location & protected areas — India's first high-altitude cold-desert biosphere reserve, stretching in the Himalayas from Ladakh (Leh and Kargil districts) in the north to Kinnaur (Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh) in the south; covers Pin Valley National Park, Chandratal, Sarchu and Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Ecology & culture — A rain-shadow cold-desert biome with the Snow Leopard as flagship species, alongside the Himalayan Ibex, Tibetan Argali and Blue Sheep; a distinct Buddhist culture (gompas, chortens, mani walls) with Bhotia, Changpa and Spiti communities practising pastoralism.
New Ramsar Sites in Bihar
- What — Gokul Reservoir (Buxar district, on the Ganga's southern edge) and Udaipur Lake (West Champaran district, an important wintering ground for migratory birds like the pochard) — both oxbow lakes — were designated new Ramsar Sites, taking India's total to 93 Ramsar Sites covering 13,60,719 hectares.
- About the Ramsar Convention — Adopted 1971; an intergovernmental treaty under UNESCO for wetland conservation; India ratified it in 1982. Bihar already had three Ramsar sites — Kabar Jheel (Begusarai) and the Nagi and Nakti bird sanctuaries (Jamui).
2. Species Conservation & Wildlife
Five new MoEFCC species-conservation initiatives
Species conservation & conflict-management initiatives launched| Initiative | Key fact |
|---|
| Project Dolphin (Phase-II) | Strengthens conservation of India's riverine (Ganges, the National Aquatic Animal) and Indus water dolphins; both Endangered (IUCN), Schedule I (WPA 1972). |
| Project Sloth Bear | National implementation framework for a species found mainly in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka; feeds primarily on termites and ants; Vulnerable (IUCN). |
| Project Gharial | Implementation action plan for a Critically Endangered (IUCN) crocodilian found mainly in Nepal and India; males develop a bulbous snout-tip growth ('ghara'). |
| Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves | Addresses conflicts involving tigers outside protected areas via a landscape approach, technology, capacity building and community support. |
| Centre of Excellence for Human-Wildlife Conflict (CoE-HWC) | A dedicated national centre at SACON to support policy, research and field-based mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts. |
Indian Wolf — a potential eighth Canis species
- What — IUCN, for the first time, evaluated the Indian Wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) separately as a potential distinct species within the *Canis* genus — which would make it the genus's 8th recognised species. Found in thorn forests, scrublands and semi-arid grasslands of India (with a few in Pakistan); Vulnerable (IUCN); threatened by habitat loss and conflict with humans.
Dugong Conservation Reserve — global recognition for the Palk Bay model
- What — IUCN adopted a motion recognising India's first Dugong Conservation Reserve, in northern Palk Bay, and encouraged extending the model to other parts of the Indian Ocean. Established 2022 by the Tamil Nadu government under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; covers 448.34 sq. km with over 12,250 hectares of seagrass meadows.
- About the Dugong — The only marine herbivorous mammal dependent on seagrass; also found in the Gulf of Mannar and Gulf of Kutch; India's population estimated at ~200; Vulnerable (IUCN), Schedule I (WPA 1972).
Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI)
- What — Central Asian countries came together under CAMI to protect 17 shared migratory mammal species (Saiga, Bukhara Deer and others); launched in 2014 at COP11 of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
3. Global Assessments, Governance & Pollution
IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025, Abu Dhabi
- What — Held once every four years, the Congress hosts the Members' Assembly, IUCN's highest decision-making body. Key resolutions: the 'Abu Dhabi Call to Action'; over 100 new members including six states (Armenia, Tajikistan, Marshall Islands, Gabon, Tuvalu, Zimbabwe); the first-ever policy on synthetic biology and nature conservation; and recognition of 'ecocide' (deliberate environmental harm) as an international crime under the ICC.
- IUCN Red List update — Indian birds — Modified the status of 12 Indian bird species, downlisting eight (positive trend) and uplisting four — Indian Courser, Indian Roller and Rufous-tailed Lark to Near Threatened, and the Long-billed Grasshopper-warbler to Endangered — all dependent on threatened open ecosystems like grasslands and semi-arid scrub. Separately, the Green Sea Turtle improved from Endangered to Least Concern, while three Arctic seal species moved closer to extinction from sea-ice loss.
- First IUCN Green Status assessment for the Tiger — Classified the tiger as 'Critically Depleted', reflecting severe historical and ongoing threats (habitat loss, prey depletion, poaching); current population estimated at 2,608–3,905 mature individuals, extinct in 9 of 24 evaluated areas. Green Status (launched 2012) assesses a species' recovery and conservation impact alongside its extinction risk, on a 0–100% 'Green Score'; India holds almost 75% of the world's wild tiger population.
Domestic environmental governance & accounting
- Environmental Accounting on Forest 2025 Report — Released by MoSPI, its 8th consecutive environment-accounts issue and the first dedicated forest-accounting publication, based on the UN's SEEA framework. Key findings: forest cover rose 22.50% (2010-11 to 2021-22) to 7.15 lakh sq. km; growing stock (usable wood volume) rose 7.32% (2013-23), with Telangana among the top contributors.
- GEI Target Rules, 2025 — India's first legally binding Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity (GEI) rules, targeting four high-emission sectors — aluminium, cement, pulp & paper, and chlor-alkali — under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), 2023. Compliant entities earn tradable carbon credit certificates (issued by BEE); non-compliant ones must buy extra certificates or pay double the average carbon-credit price as environmental compensation, enforced by the CPCB.
- Ozone pollution — Delhi-NCR worst hit — CPCB found Delhi-NCR India's worst-impacted region for ground-level ozone (O₃) pollution, followed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Ground-level ozone is a short-lived secondary pollutant formed by reactions between NOₓ and volatile organic compounds; the safe eight-hourly standard is 100 µg/m³.
- NATPOLREX-X — The Indian Coast Guard conducted the 10th edition of the National Level Pollution Response Exercise — a biennial flagship exercise evaluating India's preparedness to respond to marine oil-spill incidents.