IUCN’s World Heritage Outlook 4 report : 2025

Why in news ? The vast Western Ghats and two national parks in India, Manas National Park in Assam and Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal, received the label of “significant concern” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) enumeration of natural World Heritage sites in Asia.

Why is the IUCN Saying This?

The IUCN’s World Heritage Outlook 4 report developed earlier this month describes four key drivers of habitat and species loss in South Asia:

• Climate change
• Tourism activities
• Invasive alien species
• Roads

This report lays out four levels of assessment for natural sites:

1. Good
2. Good with some concerns
3. Significant concern
4. Critical

• Are we Protecting Our “Good” Protected Areas?
• Protected areas in South Asia are rapidly being taken over and obliterating their natural habitats.

Of 228 sites we have assessed from 2014:

• 63% with a positive outlook in 2014, 2017, and 2020
• But this has fallen to only 57% to have a positive conservation outlook in 2025.

Threats continue to evolve:

“It is interesting to note that roads and railways are now one of the five greatest threats to natural World Heritage in Asia; this was not the case in 2020.”

Other emerging threats include:

• Forest fires
• Hunting and road kill
• Disposal of waste
• Encroachment
• Illegal logging.

Indian Sites Labeled “Good with Some Concerns”

There are four Indian sites classified as “good with some concerns”:

1. The Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area
2. Kaziranga National Park
3. Keoladeo National Park
4. Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks

The report also stated that Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim was rated “good,”:

 What Makes the Western Ghats Vulnerable?

The Western Ghats, a mosaic of forests and grasslands older than the Himalayas, boast exceptionally high biological diversity and endemism. They are home to 325 globally threatened species (per IUCN Red List), including the Nilgiri tahr — a stocky, agile goat found nowhere else in the world.

Threat	Example/Impact
Hydropower Projects	Proposed ₹5,843 crore Sillahalla Pumped Storage Project (1,000 MW) involving dams on River Sillahalla and River Kundah
Tourism	Garbage pollution consumed by elephants, increasing human-wildlife conflict
Plantations	Replacing native ecosystems with commercial crops
Climate Change	Species like Nilgiri flycatcher and black and orange flycatcher shifting to higher altitudes due to warming
Invasive Species	Eucalyptus and acacia (introduced during colonial era) colonising natural forests

Sundarbans: A Mangrove in Peril:

The Sundarbans — where tigers swim — face:

• Rising salinity
• Heavy metal contamination
• Unsustainable resource extraction
• Sea level rise and frequent storm surges reducing mangrove biodiversity