A major scientific survey published in 2026 has revealed an “alarming gap” in biodiversity across India’s Western Ghats, one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Researchers were able to document only approximately 65 percent of the dragonfly and damselfly (collectively: odonata) species historically recorded in the region, suggesting a potential shortfall of nearly 35 percent of these ecologically critical insects. The survey, conducted across 144 sites spanning five states — Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and Gujarat — between February 2021 and March 2023, recorded 143 odonata species, of which 40 are endemic to the Western Ghats. The research team, headed by Professor Pankaj Koparde of MIT-World Peace University Pune, with technical support from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), has identified multiple simultaneous threats including infrastructure development, hydropower projects, pollution, land-use change, unregulated tourism, forest fires, and climate change.
Odonata — dragonflies and damselflies — are far more than aesthetically remarkable insects. They are “indicator taxa,” meaning their presence or absence directly reflects the ecological health of freshwater ecosystems. Odonata depend on clean, flowing freshwater for reproduction, and their disappearance from a waterbody is one of the most reliable early warning signs of freshwater ecosystem degradation. In the Western Ghats, which are the source of major river systems including the Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, and Periyar — rivers on which tens of millions of people depend for drinking water, irrigation, and livelihoods — the decline of odonata is therefore not merely a biodiversity concern but a sentinel warning about the health of the water systems that sustain the region’s human population.
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For UPSC aspirants, this topic connects biodiversity loss, freshwater ecosystem health, the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (the Gadgil Committee and Kasturirangan Committee reports), India’s obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of 2022 which set the target of protecting 30 percent of the Earth’s land and water by 2030.
Background: The Western Ghats as a Biodiversity Hotspot
Five Important Key Points
- The Western Ghats, a 1,600-kilometre mountain chain along India’s western coast, is one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots recognised by Conservation International, home to an extraordinary concentration of endemic species including over 5,000 flowering plant species, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, and 288 freshwater fish species.
- The survey recorded 143 odonata species — 76 dragonflies and 67 damselflies — against a historical record of approximately 220 species, suggesting the loss or local extinction of up to 77 species, with the southern Western Ghats showing greater diversity and endemism than the northern section due to the availability of perennial streams and suitable microhabitats.
- Three odonata species — Elattoneura souteri, Protosticta sanguinostigma, and Cyclogomphus ypsilon — are currently classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, while 22 are classified as “data deficient” and 16 as “not evaluated,” indicating significant gaps in scientific understanding of odonata conservation status in India.
- The multiple threats identified by the survey — linear infrastructure (roads, power lines), hydropower projects, industrial and agricultural pollution, large-scale land-use changes from forest to plantation or agriculture, unregulated tourism, recurring forest fires, and climate change-driven habitat fragmentation — are simultaneously active across the Western Ghats, creating a compound threat that exceeds the adaptive capacity of many species.
- India’s obligations under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of 2022 (the “30×30” target of protecting 30 percent of land and water by 2030) and the Convention on Biological Diversity make the Western Ghats a critical test case for whether India can translate international commitments into on-the-ground conservation outcomes.
The Western Ghats: Legislative and Policy Framework
The Western Ghats have been the subject of two major government-commissioned reports with very different conservation prescriptions. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, chaired by ecologist Madhav Gadgil and reporting in 2011, recommended classifying the entire Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) and dividing it into three zones with graduated levels of protection, with the most sensitive areas receiving the strictest development restrictions. The Kasturirangan Committee, appointed to reconsider the Gadgil recommendations given concerns about their impact on livelihoods and development, recommended a more limited ESA covering approximately 37 percent of the Western Ghats (about 60,000 square kilometres) with a buffer zone approach.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has been in the process of finalising the Western Ghats ESA notification for over a decade, facing sustained opposition from states — particularly Goa, which has repeatedly objected to the notification — and from agricultural and development lobbies. The failure to finalise this notification has created regulatory uncertainty and left significant portions of the Western Ghats without the legal protection they need.
Odonata as Ecological Indicators: Scientific Framework
The scientific value of odonata as indicator species lies in their life history. Odonata are hemimetabolous insects — they undergo incomplete metamorphosis, with larvae (nymphs) living in freshwater for periods ranging from several months to several years before emerging as adults. The larvae are highly sensitive to water quality parameters including dissolved oxygen levels, pH, temperature, turbidity, and chemical pollutants. Their presence in a waterbody indicates that the water is clean enough to support their development; their absence is a reliable indicator of water quality degradation.
In this sense, the 35 percent gap in odonata species documented by the survey is a proxy indicator for the degradation of freshwater ecosystems across the Western Ghats. The rivers, streams, ponds, and wetlands that once supported these species have been degraded to a point where 35 percent of historically present species can no longer survive or have become too rare to detect. Since these same waterbodies provide water for human consumption, irrigation, and industrial use, the odonata decline should be understood as an early warning signal for a potential freshwater crisis.
The Climate Change Dimension
Climate change is a significant threat multiplier for Western Ghats biodiversity. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and increased frequency of extreme weather events (including droughts and unseasonal rainfall) are altering the hydrological regime of Western Ghats rivers and streams. For odonata, which depend on specific temperature ranges and water flow regimes for reproduction, these changes are particularly threatening. Climate modelling suggests that many endemic Western Ghats species — adapted to narrow ecological niches — will face range contractions and potential extinction as their suitable habitat shrinks.
The interaction between climate change and land-use change is particularly dangerous. Deforestation and the replacement of natural forests with monoculture plantations (rubber, teak, eucalyptus) reduce the forest’s capacity to regulate water flow, leading to more intense floods and longer dry periods — conditions that are inimical to odonata survival.
Conservation Governance Challenges
India’s biodiversity governance architecture includes the Biological Diversity Act of 2002, the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 (significantly amended in 2022), and the Forest Conservation Act framework. Biodiversity Management Committees established under the Biological Diversity Act at the local body level are mandated to prepare People’s Biodiversity Registers and to regulate access to biological resources. However, the implementation of these committees has been patchy, and they have rarely been used as effective instruments of biodiversity conservation.
The IUCN Red List categorisations of odonata species in India are largely inadequate — 22 species are “data deficient” and 16 are “not evaluated” — meaning that India lacks the basic scientific data needed to make informed conservation decisions about these species. This is a significant governance gap that needs to be addressed through sustained investment in biodiversity monitoring and taxonomy.
Way Forward
A comprehensive response to Western Ghats odonata decline must operate at multiple levels. First, the Union government must finalise the Western Ghats ESA notification without further delay, providing a clear regulatory framework for development decisions in ecologically sensitive areas. Second, India should establish a national freshwater biodiversity monitoring programme using odonata (and other indicator taxa including freshwater fish and amphibians) as sentinel species, building on the survey methodology demonstrated by the MIT-WPU and ATREE teams. Third, hydropower projects in the Western Ghats must be subject to rigorous cumulative environmental impact assessments that specifically evaluate impacts on freshwater biodiversity. Fourth, the Biological Diversity Act framework must be strengthened, with better-resourced and better-trained Biodiversity Management Committees. Fifth, India must mainstream biodiversity considerations into sectoral policies — agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, and energy — rather than treating biodiversity conservation as a standalone sectoral concern.
Relevance for UPSC and SSC Examinations
This topic is directly relevant for UPSC GS-III under Environment — conservation, biodiversity, environmental pollution and degradation; and GS-II under Government policies and regulatory bodies. It is relevant for the Essay paper on environmental themes including climate change and biodiversity. It is also relevant for GS-I under Salient features of World’s Physical Geography.
For SSC CGL and CHSL, this covers Environment and Ecology — biodiversity, Western Ghats, conservation, international conventions.
Key terms: Western Ghats, biodiversity hotspot, odonata, indicator taxa, IUCN Red List, Ecologically Sensitive Area, Gadgil Committee, Kasturirangan Committee, Biological Diversity Act 2002, Convention on Biological Diversity, Kunming-Montreal Framework, 30×30 target, ATREE, freshwater ecosystem, endemic species, Wildlife Protection Act 1972.