India finally gives its ‘wastelands’ a name and a future
India launched its first-ever "Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems of India" at the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on 17 August 2026
The guide was released with a video message from the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and developed jointly by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), IUCN, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, and ISRO's Space Applications Centre
It documents and maps ecosystems long classified administratively as "wastelands" — Himalayan and Terai grasslands, the Thar desert and Banni grasslands, Deccan savannas, Aravalli scrublands, Yamuna-Chambal ravines, Western Ghats rocky plateaus, and other open natural ecosystems (ONEs)
The document seeks to shift conservation framing from "where can trees be planted" to recognizing the ecological function these treeless landscapes already perform, and flags afforestation on natural grasslands as a threat to species that depend on open habitats
"Wasteland" Classification and India's Land Records System
Indian land-use records have historically classified non-forested, non-cultivated, treeless land — including natural grasslands, scrublands, and savannas — as "wasteland," a category rooted in colonial-era revenue classification that equates land value with tree cover or cultivability. This classification has driven afforestation-first restoration schemes onto ecologically functional open ecosystems.
Key Details
- "Wastelands" in Indian administrative usage covers land categories such as barren/uncultivable land, degraded pastures/grazing land, degraded notified forest land, and other underutilized land, as tracked in Wasteland Atlases published periodically by the Department of Land Resources with ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre
- Grasslands, savannas, and scrublands — ecologically distinct, biodiverse ecosystems — have frequently been mapped as "wasteland" or "degraded forest" and targeted for tree-planting under compensatory afforestation and green mission programmes
- A 2018 expert committee report (National Wildlife Board-linked review) flagged the absence of a dedicated national inventory and conservation framework specifically for grasslands, distinct from forest cover accounting
The new guide directly challenges the "wasteland" label by cataloguing these open ecosystems' ecological and economic value, aiming to redirect restoration policy away from blanket afforestation on grasslands.
UNCCD, Land Degradation Neutrality, and India's Desertification Commitments
The UNCCD (adopted 1994, in force 1996) is one of the three Rio Conventions (alongside the UNFCCC and CBD) and is the primary global framework for combating desertification and land degradation. India is a party and has made specific Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) commitments under it.
Key Details
- UNCCD: adopted 1994 in Paris, entered into force in 1996; India ratified it in 1996
- COP17 (2026) was hosted by Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar under the theme "Restoring Land. Restoring Hope"
- India committed to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 (announced at UNCCD COP14, New Delhi, 2019) as part of its Land Degradation Neutrality target
- India's Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas (ISRO, latest edition covering 2018-19) found about 97.85 million hectares (29.7% of India's 328.72 million hectare total geographical area) under land degradation, and 83.69 million hectares under desertification — both figures higher than in the 2003-05 and 2011-13 assessments
The grasslands guide is being positioned as a technical input to India's LDN restoration target, arguing that counting natural open ecosystems as "degraded land" needing afforestation, rather than as intact ecosystems needing protection, undermines both biodiversity and desertification-neutrality goals.
Species Dependent on Open Natural Ecosystems and Habitat Conservation Status
Several critically endangered and vulnerable Indian species are grassland/scrubland specialists that decline when their open habitat is converted to plantation or forest cover, making grassland conservation a distinct priority from forest conservation under the Wildlife Protection Act framework.
Key Details
- Great Indian Bustard: IUCN status Critically Endangered; Schedule I species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972; population confined mainly to grassland/scrub habitats in Rajasthan and Gujarat
- Other open-habitat-dependent species named include the Lesser Florican and Bengal Florican (both grassland birds, Schedule I), the Indian wolf, and the blackbuck (Schedule I) — all threatened in part by loss of open habitat to tree plantation and land-use conversion
- The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 protects individual species but has no equivalent standalone legal category for "grassland ecosystem" protection comparable to "forest" under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, or "wetland" under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017
By formally documenting grasslands as ecosystems in their own right, the guide aims to build the case for dedicated legal/administrative recognition of open natural ecosystems, similar to existing frameworks for forests and wetlands, to better protect these threatened species.
- Guide launched: 17 August 2026, UNCCD COP17, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
- Partner institutions: MoEFCC, ATREE, IUCN, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, ISRO Space Applications Centre
- UNCCD: adopted 1994, in force 1996; India is a founding-era party
- India's LDN pledge: restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 (announced at COP14, New Delhi, 2019)
- Land degradation in India (2018-19): 97.85 million hectares (29.7% of 328.72 million hectare total geographical area)
- Desertification extent in India (2018-19): 83.69 million hectares
- Ecosystems documented: Himalayan/Terai grasslands, Thar desert and Banni grasslands, Deccan savannas, Aravalli scrublands, Yamuna-Chambal ravines, Western Ghats rocky plateaus, Central Nicobar grasslands, Tamil Nadu's Theri Kaadu scrub
- Species flagged as open-ecosystem dependent: Great Indian Bustard (Critically Endangered), Lesser and Bengal Florican, Indian wolf, blackbuck