New Delhi: India has revised, after 40 years, its rules on the wildlife trade, although the exclusion of some species from licensing restrictions has caused concern among conservationists.

The Union environment ministry issued a notification titled: Wild Life (Protection) Licencing (Additional Matters for Consideration) Rules, 2024, providing guidelines on matters to consider before granting licence to those dealing in captive animals, snake venom, trophy animals, and stuffed animals. The revised notification was published on January 18. Licensing rules published in 1983 were being implemented until now.

The rules published in 1983 state that no such licence shall be granted to trade in a wild animal specified in Schedule I or Part II of Schedule II to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, except with the previous consultation of the central government.

This condition has been changed in the new guidelines, which say no such licence shall be granted if it relates to any wild animal specified in Schedule I to the Act, except with the previous consultation of the Central Government.

The notification doesn’t mention why the licensing restriction for schedule II species has been removed. To be sure schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 had been rationalised following an amendment to the act in 2022 but Schedule II still has a number of important species of mammals including endangered species of bats, shrews, squirrels; and a very large variety of birds including barbets, bee eaters, bulbuls, buntings, prinias, falcons, and pittas. Turtles, geckos, snakes, frogs etc are also in schedule II of amended act.

“There are several important species in Schedule II of the amended act. It needs to be checked why the restriction on licensing has not been extended to those species. The schedules have been rationalised and significantly changed in the amendment,” said an environmental lawyer who did not wish to be named.

“Before the amendment in 2022, the schedules were made based on how endangered a certain species is. Now the schedules have been rationalised. We have to see whether species categorised in schedule II have increased in numbers and do not need that level of protection. The schedules give a certain category of importance to species,” said Rahul Choudhary, environmental lawyer.

“Part II of Schedule II does not exist. Basically, the wild animals listed in part II of Schedule II have been included in schedule I after the amendment. This notification is only because of the fact that the four schedules of wild animals have been reorganised into two schedules,” said a senior MoEFCC official, responding to HT’s query on why schedule II animals have been exempted.

Although the precise proportion of trafficked animals within the pet trade remains uncertain, the sheer volume of wild animals traded annually in both domestic and international markets is staggering. Many pet owners perceive themselves as animal lovers, enthusiasts, and collectors, often unaware of the consequences of their demand for such animals. There are other motivations for owning and illegally trading wild animals, says Wildlife Trust of India.

According to recent reports, more than 70,000 native and exotic species were trafficked via air routes. To address this pressing issue, the Indian government introduced a one-time amnesty program through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). In turn, a total of 32,645 individuals voluntarily declared their possession of exotic and native species from June to December 2020, it adds on its website.

The World Wildlife Report 2020 by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that between 1999 and 2018, 6,000 different species of flora and fauna were seized. Suspected traffickers from 150 citizenships were identified, illustrating that wildlife crime is a. global issue.

In the amendment act schedule I specifies the animal species with the highest level of protection, and Schedule II specifies the animal species with a relatively lower degree of protection. Schedule III in the amendment act is for plant species and Schedule IV is for species protected under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In contrast, the original law had six schedules—Schedule I for animals with highest priority particularly endangered species; Schedule II species with a relatively lesser degree of protection; Schedule III and IV for non-endangered species; Schedule V for vermin; and schedule VI for plant species.