India launches National Red List Assessment to map extinction risks of 11,000 species

To meet commitments made under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, India launched the National Red List Assessment (NRLA) 2025–2030 vision, HT reported. The NRLA is a framework to assess the extinction risks of about 11,000 species, including 7,000 species of flora and 4,000 species of fauna, across the country.

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), along with, IUCN-India and the Centre for Species Survival,  prepared the framework for a nationally coordinated and science-based system to assess and monitor the conservation status of India’s species, the report said.  

India is among the world’s 17 megadiverse countries, home to four of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots: the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, Indo-Burma, and Sundaland.

According to the government, India occupies only 2.4% of the world’s land area, but harbours nearly 8% of the global flora and 7.5% of global fauna, with 28% of the plants and over 30% of the animals being endemic. 

Punjab: India’s ‘breadbasket’, ‘on its knees’ after 2025 flood, third in seven years  

Punjab floods submerged 700,000 hectares in water and left mounds of silt and rotting crops. The estimated loss of rice is ₹7,500 crore, and the false smut has spread over 300,000 acres in  ‘India’s breadbasket’, which has been “brought to its knees by three floods in the past seven years,” reported DTE. The outlet said in only 10-15 days, 2,520 villages in the state of 30 million people were submerged. Nearly 400,000 people directly connected to agriculture were impacted. 

First climate tipping point reached after coral reef diebacks, scientists warn

The world reached its first climate “tipping point” as global warming pushes warm-water coral reefs towards an irreversible decline, warned a new research, the Independent reported. The report, co-authored by more than 160 scientists in 23 countries, “found that warm-water coral reefs…are already passing their thermal tipping point”, the newspaper said: “The scientists put this threshold at 1.2°C warming above pre-industrial levels, but the world has now hit 1.4°C, meaning the impacts of passing the tipping point are under way.” The New Scientist spoke to lead author Prof Tim Lenton, who said: “We’ve taken a sample of the 1.5°C world and we have seen the consequences…A majority of coral reefs are under risk of extensive dieback [or bleaching] and tipping into the alternative seaweed-dominated, algal-covered state.” 

The Guardian reported that the world is on the edge of breaching other tipping points, including the dieback of the Amazon and the collapse of major ocean currents and the loss of ice sheets.

Cold Desert named India’s 13th UNESCO biosphere reserve

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on September 27, 2025, designated India’s Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve as part of its global network. India now has 13 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, DTE reported. The announcement came during the fifth World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in Hangzhou, China, where 26 new sites were added worldwide.

This is India’s first high-altitude cold desert biosphere reserve and one of the coldest and driest ecosystems in UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Around 7,770 square kilometres “at altitudes between 3,300 and 6,600 metres, the site covers Pin Valley National Park and its surroundings, including Chandratal, Sarchu and Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary. It features windswept plateaus, glacial valleys, alpine lakes and rugged high-altitude deserts,” the outlet said, adding that the region homes “snow leopards, Himalayan ibex, blue sheep and golden eagles. Around 12,000 residents sustain livelihoods through herding, farming and traditional medicine.”

Groundwater, ‘not glaciers’ is lifeline of Ganga’s summer flow: Study 

A new study showed that “groundwater, not glaciers, is the lifeline of the [Ganga] river,” Mongabay India reported. Quoting the lead author’s Abhayanand Singh Maurya the outlet said, “The study published in Hydrological Processes, is the first comprehensive isotope study to show that groundwater aquifers are the main source of the Ganga river’s summer flow, in the upstream region, glacier and snow melts contribute significantly to the river flow, this is not the case in the regions beyond the Himalayan foothills,”

Maurya told the outlet that the contribution of glacier melts to the river was only about 32% of the total flow. This got him wondering about the source of the remaining water in the plains, where discharge is several times higher than the discharge at Rishikesh.

The outlet explained that the Ganga river, which originates from the Gangotri glacier in the western Himalayas and flows through the Indo-Gangetic Plain of India and Bangladesh, is crucial for ecosystems such as wetlands, and fish. 

Death toll from torrential rains in Mexico rises to 64 as search expands

Heavy rainfall on October 8 and 9 caused rivers to burst their banks in east Mexico. The death toll over the week touched 64 on Monday, CNN reported. Early official estimates note 100,000 affected homes, and in some cases, houses near rivers “practically disappeared,” the news channel reported. The NYT quoted Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum saying:“There were no scientific or meteorological conditions that could have indicated to us that the rainfall would be of this magnitude.”

Heavy showers  killed 29 people in Veracruz state on the Gulf Coast on October 13, and 21 people in Hidalgo state, north of Mexico City. At least 13 were killed in Puebla, east of Mexico City. Earlier, in the central state of Querétaro, a child died in a landslide, CNN reported. 

Many rescued as remnants of typhoon hits Alaska 

Typhoon Halong hit western Alaska with “hurricane-force winds and ravaging storm surges and floodwaters that swept some homes away” over the weekend, the Associated Press reported. One person died and two are missing and over 50 people had to be rescued, some from rooftops. Alaska’s two US senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, said they would “continue to focus on climate resilience and infrastructure funds for Alaska”, the news wire reported. 

Leading economist’s warning: Trump’s place in Florida vulnerable to extreme hurricanes and sea level rise 

The Guardian quoted economist Lord Stern who said that “investment in climate action is the economic growth story of the 21st century”. Stern also spoke about fragile geopolitics and US president Donald Trump, saying: “I’d point out to him that his place in Florida is going to be extremely vulnerable to more intense hurricanes, sea level rise and storm surges. The people and places he loves are under severe risk.” In another report, the Guardian published an interview of Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders. She accused the US, UK and other governments of “paying lip service to climate goals while criminalizing activists”.

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