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) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on 17 August 2026. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, speaking virtually at the event, called the Guide an important step towards recognising India’s open natural ecosystems and stressed the need for their science-based conservation alongside forests. The launch places India’s long-neglected grasslands, savannas, and scrublands at the centre of the global conversation on land restoration and climate resilience.
What Are Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs)?
Open Natural Ecosystems, or ONEs, are non-forested, naturally open landscapes that include savannas, grasslands, scrub deserts, rocky outcrops, ravines, and coastal ecosystems. Unlike forests, which have a closed tree canopy, ONEs are characterised by sparse or no tree cover and a dominance of grasses, shrubs, and herbaceous vegetation. These ecosystems exist across India’s semi-arid and sub-humid zones, stretching from the Himalayan and Terai grasslands in the north to the Thar and Banni landscapes in the west, the Deccan savannas in the south, and rocky plateaus and scrublands in central India.
Despite their vast extent, ONEs have been systematically overlooked in India’s conservation and land-use planning. A landmark 2022 study by ecologists Abi Tamim Vanak and MD Madhusudan, published in the Journal of Biogeography, found that ONEs cover approximately 320,000 square kilometres, roughly 10 per cent of India’s land surface. Yet less than 5 per cent of these ecosystems fall under India’s existing protected area network of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The study also revealed that nearly 70 per cent of India’s ONEs overlap with areas the government officially classifies as “wastelands,” a colonial-era designation that treats treeless landscapes as unproductive and available for conversion.
This misclassification has had devastating consequences. Between 1880 and 2010, India lost approximately 20 million hectares of grassland and shrubland. Between 2005 and 2015 alone, grasslands shrank from 18 million hectares to 12.3 million hectares. The drivers of this loss include agricultural expansion, large-scale afforestation drives on grassy biomes that were never meant to support forests, and the rapid growth of renewable energy projects such as solar and wind parks on land classified as wasteland.
What makes this loss especially alarming is the ecological and economic value these ecosystems provide. Grasslands sequester approximately 146 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year underground in their root systems and soil, a figure comparable to tropical forests. They support more than 500 million livestock and provide over 50 per cent of India’s fodder production. They are also home to some of India’s most endangered wildlife, including the Great Indian Bustard, the Indian grey wolf, the striped hyena, the blackbuck, and the lesser florican. Over 20 nomadic pastoralist tribes depend on these ecosystems for their livelihoods and cultural identity.
The Guide to Grasslands and ONEs of India
The Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems of India is the first comprehensive document of its kind compiled by the Indian government. It brings together detailed information on major Open Natural Ecosystems across the country, covering their geographical settings, ecological characteristics, biodiversity, and the communities and tribes associated with them. The document emphasises the rich diversity, ecological significance, and socio-economic importance of India’s grasslands, savannas, deserts, and other open natural ecosystems.
The Guide compiles data on the full spectrum of ONEs found in India. These include Himalayan and Terai grasslands, the Thar Desert and Banni grasslands of Gujarat, Deccan savannas, rocky plateaus, ravines, scrublands, coastal ecosystems, and desert environments. Each ecosystem type is described in terms of its spatial extent, ecological features, the species it supports, and the human communities that have coexisted with it for centuries.
The document is intended to serve as a foundational resource for policymakers, researchers, conservation practitioners, development agencies, and local communities working towards the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of India’s grasslands and ONEs. By consolidating fragmented knowledge into a single authoritative guide, the government aims to fill a critical gap in India’s land-use documentation and provide a scientific basis for future policy decisions affecting these ecosystems.
The Guide also provides a platform for India to showcase its diverse open ecosystems on the global stage. By launching it at COP17, India has positioned itself as a country that recognises the value of non-forest ecosystems and is prepared to integrate them into its broader strategy for land restoration and climate action. The launch event was attended by international delegates, researchers, and conservation organisations, making it a significant moment for India’s environmental diplomacy.
The Wasteland Legacy: Why Grasslands Were Overlooked
The story of India’s neglected grasslands is rooted in a colonial classification system that persists to this day. The concept of “wasteland” traces back to the English philosopher John Locke, who argued in the seventeenth century that any land not in economic production, idle, undisciplined, or unenclosed, was waste. The British colonial administration adopted this framework when designing India’s revenue systems, recognising only land that generated taxable income from timber, grain, or cash crops. Open landscapes that supported nomadic herders, migratory birds, and grassland predators generated no such income and were accordingly recorded as waste.
This classification was formalised in the post-independence era. India’s first Wasteland Atlas was produced in 2000 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the Department of Land Resources under the Ministry of Rural Development. The Atlas is now in its fifth edition, and its foreword states that its purpose is to enable “devising strategies to bring back such wastelands into the productive folds once again.” As of the latest data, over 557,665 square kilometres of India’s land, roughly 17 per cent of the country’s total area, is categorised as wasteland. This includes ravines, grasslands, shrublands, waterlogged and marshy areas, pastures, and coastal ecosystems.
The irony is stark. Wildlife sanctuaries and national parks notified under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, including the Kutch Wild Ass Sanctuary, Hemis National Park, and Rollapadu Blackbuck Sanctuary, are all labelled as wastelands in the government’s own records. Wetlands and marshes notified as Ramsar sites are similarly classified. The term “wasteland” has thus become a bureaucratic stamp that condemns ecologically vital landscapes to a status of official neglect.
This colonial legacy has been compounded by a persistent “forest bias” in India’s environmental governance. Grasslands have no equivalent of the Forest Conservation Act to shield them from conversion. There is no dedicated law for grassland conservation, no ministry whose mandate is the protection of open ecosystems, and no national programme that treats these landscapes as worthy of preservation in their own right. Instead, grasslands have routinely been targeted for tree-planting drives under programmes like the Green India Mission and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), which assume that planting trees on open land is always ecologically beneficial. Ecologists have repeatedly warned that planting trees on natural grasslands can damage the very biodiversity, soil systems, and water cycles that these ecosystems sustain.
India’s Grasslands: Diversity and Ecological Value
India’s grasslands are far more diverse than commonly imagined. The Wildlife Institute of India, in its 2015 report Ecology and Management of Grassland Habitats in India, identified several distinct categories. These include coastal grasslands on the shores of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the salt marshes of the Rann of Kutch, riverine alluvial grasslands along the banks of the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers, tropical savannahs across the Deccan Plateau and western India, and montane grasslands found in the Himalayan ranges, the Aravallis, the Shivaliks, and the sub-Himalayan foothills. Each type differs according to altitude, slope, rock strata, and rainfall patterns.
Fossil records indicate that India’s savannah grasslands have existed for as long as 50 million years. C3 grasses appeared in India during the Eocene epoch, and C4 grasslands may have become widespread on the Indian subcontinent by approximately 7 million years ago. These ecosystems are not degraded forests or failed plantations. They are ancient, self-sustaining biomes with their own evolutionary history and ecological logic.
The biodiversity they support is remarkable. Grasslands and open ecosystems are home to the Great Indian Bustard, one of the world’s heaviest flying birds, which is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. They shelter the Indian grey wolf, the striped hyena, the Indian gazelle (chinkara), the blackbuck, the lesser florican, and a range of birds including harriers, partridges, larks, and the rain quail. The scrublands and rocky plateaus host endemic reptiles, insects, and plant species found nowhere else.
Equally important is the carbon storage capacity of these ecosystems. While forests store carbon above ground in trunks and canopies, grasslands store vast amounts of carbon below ground in their extensive root systems and soil. This below-ground carbon is often more stable and long-lasting than above-ground biomass, which is increasingly vulnerable to wildfires in a warming world. Grasslands sequester approximately 146 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year, a figure that rivals tropical forests and makes them a significant but underappreciated component of India’s carbon budget.
The pastoral communities that have coexisted with these ecosystems for centuries add a crucial socio-economic dimension. Over 20 nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralist tribes in India depend on grasslands for grazing, fodder, and their cultural identity. These communities have developed sophisticated knowledge systems for managing grasslands, including rotational grazing practices that prevent overgrazing and maintain ecological balance. Their livelihoods are inseparable from the health of these ecosystems.
Significance of the Guide’s Launch at COP17
The decision to launch the Guide at COP17 in Ulaanbaatar was strategically significant. The conference, held from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope,” brings together delegates from all 197 Parties of the UNCCD, alongside leaders from government, business, civil society, scientists, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists, and smallholder farmers. COP17 focuses on the interconnected challenges of desertification, land degradation, and drought, making it the most appropriate venue for India to present its first comprehensive documentation of open natural ecosystems.
The timing is also significant. The year 2026 has been declared the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026) by the United Nations General Assembly, a initiative championed by Mongolia as the COP17 host country. This designation calls on UN Member States to invest in sustainable rangeland management, restore degraded lands, improve market access for pastoralists, and fill knowledge gaps on rangelands and pastoralism. India’s Guide directly responds to this global call by providing the first systematic documentation of the country’s open ecosystems, many of which function as rangelands supporting pastoral livelihoods.
For India, the launch provides a platform to strengthen the representation of its open ecosystems in the global conversation on Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). India has committed under the Bonn Challenge to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, of which more than 22.5 million hectares has already been restored. The Guide helps India argue that restoration efforts must be ecosystem-specific, recognising that planting trees on grasslands is not restoration but destruction.
The launch also positions India as a leader among developing countries in acknowledging the value of non-forest ecosystems. Many nations, from African savannah countries to Central Asian steppe nations, face similar challenges of grassland misclassification and neglect. India’s approach, which combines scientific mapping with policy documentation, could serve as a model for other countries grappling with the same issues.
Bhupender Yadav, in his virtual address, reinforced this point by noting that “grasslands, scrublands, and ravines have been undervalued due to the absence of trees, even though these ecosystems host unique species and support pastoral communities.” He added that “modern science reinforces the understanding of local communities that healthy grasslands are essential for biodiversity, livelihoods, and climate resilience.”
India’s Broader Role at UNCCD COP17
India’s launch of the ONEs Guide is part of a wider engagement with UNCCD processes on land restoration and drought resilience. At COP16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in December 2024, Bhupender Yadav had outlined India’s comprehensive approach to combating land degradation, highlighting the country’s commitment to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030. He had also announced the establishment of a Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Land Management in India to promote a scientific approach to land degradation and share India’s expertise with other countries.
At COP17, India is participating in multiple thematic days and side events. The conference programme includes a Rangelands Flagship Initiative, a global multi-partner platform led by Mongolia and the UNCCD to catalyse progress toward Land Degradation Neutrality through the conservation, sustainable management, and restoration of rangelands. India’s Guide to Grasslands and ONEs aligns directly with this initiative, providing the scientific foundation needed to integrate India’s rangelands into global restoration efforts.
India is also engaging with COP17’s focus on innovative financial mechanisms for land restoration. The Business4Land Forum, the Mining Sector Forum, and the Fashion for Land High-Level Forum during the conference provide opportunities for India to mobilise private sector investment in grassland conservation and restoration. The recognition of grasslands as significant carbon sinks opens pathways for India to access carbon finance through improved grassland management, a potential that researchers at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) have been advocating for.
India’s participation at COP17 also comes at a moment of broader global attention to grasslands. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has recognised that rangelands cover more than half of the Earth’s surface, support 2 billion people, provide 16 per cent of global food production, and store up to 30 per cent of terrestrial carbon. The IUCN has highlighted grasslands as a key policy priority following the publication of the UN Global Land Outlook report in 2024. India’s Guide contributes to this growing body of global knowledge and positions the country as an active participant in the international effort to correct the historical neglect of open ecosystems.
Key Takeaways
- India launched its first-ever Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) at the UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on 17 August 2026.
- Open Natural Ecosystems cover approximately 320,000 square kilometres (about 10 per cent of India’s land area), but less than 5 per cent fall under the protected area network.
- Nearly 70 per cent of India’s ONEs overlap with areas classified as wastelands, a colonial-era designation that persists in official government records.
- Grasslands sequester approximately 146 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year underground, comparable to tropical forests, and support over 500 million livestock.
- Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav called the Guide an important step towards science-based conservation of open ecosystems alongside forests.
- The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026), declared by the UN General Assembly, coincides with COP17, providing a global platform for India’s grassland documentation.
- India has committed under the Bonn Challenge to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, of which over 22.5 million hectares has already been restored.
