India launched its first-ever Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) at the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on August 17, 2026. The document highlights the rich diversity, ecological significance and socio-economic importance of India's grasslands, savannas, deserts and other open natural ecosystems, marking an important step towards strengthening their conservation, restoration and sustainable management.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav emphasized in a video message that grasslands, scrublands and ravines have long been judged by the absence of trees despite sheltering unique species and sustaining pastoral communities. He noted that modern science reinforces local community understanding that healthy grasslands are indispensable for biodiversity, livelihoods and climate resilience. The Minister shared personal connections to these ecosystems from growing up in Ajmer, Rajasthan, surrounded by grazing lands and desert scrub traditionally described as "wasteland."
The Guide was launched under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), organized by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Land Management (CoE-SLM), Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), and Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO.
The publication brings together information on major Open Natural Ecosystems across India, covering their geographical settings, ecological characteristics, biodiversity, and the communities and tribes associated with them. It contains thematic sections on pastoralism, fire ecology and carbon sequestration. India's ONEs range from Himalayan and Terai grasslands to the Thar and Banni landscapes, Deccan savannas, rocky plateaus, ravines, scrublands, coastal ecosystems and desert landscapes.
The event featured presentations and discussions highlighting the diversity and distribution of India's grasslands and ONEs, their ecological importance, and the role of their restoration in achieving India's Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets. The need for stronger scientific knowledge, improved land-degradation assessment and landscape-level planning was emphasized.
Two fireside chats with national and international experts focused on grassland and dryland conservation and restoration, people-centred rangeland governance, climate resilience, and institutional, scientific and policy measures needed for landscape-scale conservation. The launch reaffirmed India's commitment to a science-informed and landscape-based approach to land restoration and sustainable land management.