India ranked 176 out of 180 in 2024 Global Nature Conservation Index

India has been ranked 176 out of 180 countries in the 2024 Global Nature Conservation Index released on Thursday.

With a score of 45.5 out of 100, India was placed at the bottom of the list, just above Kiribati (ranked last), Turkey (ranked 179), Iraq (178) and Micronesia (177).

The Nature Conservation Index, launched this month, evaluates conservation efforts on four parameters: management of land, threats faced by biodiversity, governance and capacity, and future trends. The progress made by each country in balancing development and conservation of the environment are assessed.

The index has been developed by the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and nonprofit website BioDB.

The index attributed India’s low ranking mainly to rising threats to biodiversity and the inefficient management of land.

Researchers said that there was a need for sustainable land use practices as land conversion for urban, industrial and agricultural purposes had reached 53%.

They also said that several factors such as the loss of habitat and fragmentation by agriculture, urbanisation and infrastructural development pose risks to the country’s biodiversity. “An alarming 23,300 sq km of tree cover was lost between 2001 and 2019 due to ongoing deforestation,” it noted.

“India faces both alarming biodiversity challenges and promising opportunities,” the researchers said. “The country’s biodiversity richness is under constant threat due to a population density that equals some of the world’s most congested areas and a doubled population since the late 1970s.”

Enacting regulations that support sustainable development, allocation of funds for environmental preservation and promoting efficient conservation measures depend on the dedication of policymakers, they added.