How does biodiversity vary in India? How is the Biological Diversity Act,2002 helpful in conservation of flora and fauna?

Use Buxa as an example of fauna conservation beyond laws on paper: species recovery through prey restoration, translocation and transboundary connectivity in the eastern Himalayan foothills.

• Buxa (760.87 sq km, Alipurduar) adjoins Bhutan's Phibsoo sanctuary and connects with Jaldapara and the Manas landscape.
• Since 2018, over 800 chital released and about 380 hectares of grassland restored before tigress T138 arrived from Valmiki in October 2026.
• Satkosia (2018) failed when communities were not consulted, showing that conservation laws need local participation to work.

• A three-year-old tigress, T138, from Valmiki Tiger Reserve (Bihar) was released at Buxa Tiger Reserve (West Bengal) in the first week of October 2026, starting a phased reintroduction.
• Buxa: created in 1983 as India's 15th tiger reserve; 760.87 sq km (390.58 core, 370.29 buffer); borders Bhutan's Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Since 2018 more than 800 chital have been released and about 380 hectares of grassland restored at Buxa to build a prey base.

Use the global decline and India's tiger recovery to show why statutory conservation frameworks matter and what sustained protection achieves.

• WWF's Living Planet Report 2026 records a 73% average fall in monitored vertebrate populations between 1970 and 2022, led by habitat loss.
• Freshwater populations fell 85% on average, the steepest of any ecosystem, flagging rivers and wetlands as priority habitats.
• WWF reports wild tigers grew about 70% between 2010 and 2025, crediting sustained protection such as India's tiger reserves.

• WWF's Living Planet Report 2026 finds a 73% average decline in monitored vertebrate populations between 1970 and 2022.
• The Living Planet Index is compiled by the Zoological Society of London and now covers 35,803 populations of 5,790 species.
• Freshwater populations fell most (85%), then terrestrial (69%) and marine (59%); Latin America and the Caribbean fell 95%.