Technology and Wildlife Conservation in India: Policy Frameworks, Challenges, and Reform Pathways

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-725-5_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Technology; Wildlife; Conservation in India; SDG 15 & 16

Abstract

Technological innovation has significantly altered wildlife conservation strategies across jurisdictions with the introduction of new tools for ecological monitoring, enforcement, and policy implementation. In India, statutory mandates, socioeconomic realities, and federal institutional structures all have an impact on the governance environment that supports biodiversity conservation. This study examines technology’s role in wildlife conservation in India from a governance and policy perspective. It looks at how new technologies are integrated into the existing legal and institutional frameworks, including drones, digital patrolling platforms, remote sensing, artificial intelligence (AI), geographic information systems (GIS), and wildlife forensic science. The study uses a doctrinal and qualitative analytical technique to evaluate national wildlife policies, institutional procedures, statutory instruments, and documented applications of conservation technologies. The results show that technology has strengthened enforcement efforts, increased the accuracy of wildlife monitoring, and enabled data-driven conservation planning. However, the paper highlights important limitations, including disparities in state infrastructure, unequal institutional capacity, ethical concerns with surveillance technologies, poor data governance, and a lack of local community participation in technology-driven conservation initiatives. The study argues that rather than being a stand-alone solution to conservation problems, technology should be seen as an enabling tool whose effectiveness depends on institutional readiness, ethical safeguards, transparent regulations, and participatory governance. It makes reform recommendations for strengthening policy coherence, developing standardized data governance frameworks, improving institutional capacity, and coordinating technology deployment with international biodiversity pledges focusing on SDG15 & 16. The study promotes interdisciplinary scholarship by fusing policy analysis, conservation technology studies, and environmental legislation in the Indian context.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Rahul J. Nikam
AU  - Tarkesh Molia
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/07
TI  - Technology and Wildlife Conservation in India: Policy Frameworks, Challenges, and Reform Pathways
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Conceptualizing Legal Framework and Policies for Domestic Animal and Wildlife Conservation: Issues and Challenges in Hybrid Mode (ICAR 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 4
EP  - 18
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-725-5_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-725-5_2
ID  - Nikam2026
ER  -