Biodiversity Conservation vs Wildlife Conservation: The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972

Wildlife conservation protects wild animals and plants and their habitats, mainly through prohibitions on hunting and trade and the creation of protected areas. Biodiversity conservation is wider: it covers the variety of life at all levels, genes, species and ecosystems, wild and domesticated, and adds two objectives that wildlife law does not address: sustainable use and fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of biological resources and traditional knowledge. In India, the first is governed mainly by the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972; the second by the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

1. Wildlife Conservation

Wildlife under the Wild Life (Protection) Act includes any animal, aquatic or land vegetation which forms part of any habitat (Section 2(37)). The Act, enacted in 1972 after a steep decline in wildlife and strengthened in 1991, 2002, 2006 and 2022, conserves wildlife through: a ban on hunting of scheduled animals (Section 9); protection of specified plants (Chapter IIIA); protected areas such as sanctuaries, national parks, conservation reserves, community reserves and tiger reserves; regulation of trade in wildlife and its products, including CITES implementation (Chapter VB, inserted in 2022); and institutions such as the National Board for Wildlife, NTCA, WCCB and Central Zoo Authority. Its approach is protective and prohibitory, centred on species and habitats.

2. Biodiversity Conservation

Biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources and the ecological complexes of which they are part, including diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems (Section 2(b), Biological Diversity Act). The Act, enacted to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), pursues its three objectives: conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge. Its tools are: regulation of access by foreigners (prior approval of the NBA, Section 3) and by Indians for commercial use (prior intimation to the SBB, Section 7); control over intellectual property based on Indian resources (Section 6); benefit sharing; Biodiversity Management Committees and People's Biodiversity Registers (Section 41); biodiversity heritage sites (Section 37); and national strategies and action plans. The 2023 amendment eased access for Indian users, AYUSH practitioners and cultivated medicinal plants, and decriminalised offences. Under Section 59, the Act operates in addition to, and not in derogation of, laws relating to forests and wildlife.

3. Key Differences

4. Relationship and Case Law

The two laws are complementary. Wildlife conservation protects a subset of biodiversity (wild species and habitats) with strong prohibitions; biodiversity law covers the whole spectrum, including agricultural varieties, microbes and genetic resources, and addresses biopiracy and equity. Cases illustrate the difference: Centre for Environmental Law, WWF-India v. Union of India, (2013) 8 SCC 234 (Kuno lions) and M.K. Ranjitsinh (2024, Great Indian Bustard) concern species conservation under wildlife law, while Divya Pharmacy v. Union of India (Uttarakhand High Court, 2018), holding that Indian companies must share benefits, and the NBA's action over Bt brinjal biopiracy concern benefit sharing under biodiversity law. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022), with its 30 by 30 target, draws both together.

5. Related Topics and Provisions