Environmental Jurisprudence and Wildlife Conservation: An Analysis of the Aravalli Hills Decision, with special reference to ‘Wildlife Corridors’ in India

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-725-5_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Environmental Jurisprudence; Aravalli Hills and Ranges; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Corridors; SDG 15

Abstract

The Aravalli Hills and Ranges in India are one of the oldest geological formations in the world. They act as a natural barrier against desertification and aid in groundwater recharge. They also support diverse wildlife habitats and corridors across north-western India. Over the years, unregulated mining activities, urbanisation and varying regulatory approaches across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat have led to degradation of the entire Aravalli ecosystem, including the wildlife habitat. These issues ultimately led the Supreme Court of India to clarify the critical legal question of what constitutes ‘Aravalli Hills and Ranges’ in In re: Issue relating to definition of Aravali Hills and Ranges (2025 INSC 1338). In this backdrop, this paper examines the Apex Court’s Aravalli Hills decision and analyses its implications on wildlife conservation in India. Although the decision has been put in abeyance, it highlights a critical question of law with a significant impact on wildlife conservation. The paper argues that to ensure effective wildlife conservation in India, the legislature and the judiciary need to move beyond adopting a narrow definitional approach, towards recognising landscapes as a ‘functional ecological system’, incorporating legal protection to ‘wildlife corridors’, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land).

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.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Vidisha Joshi
AU  - Madhvendra Pratap Singh
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/07
TI  - Environmental Jurisprudence and Wildlife Conservation: An Analysis of the Aravalli Hills Decision, with special reference to ‘Wildlife Corridors’ in India
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  - 32
EP  - 46
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-725-5_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-725-5_4
ID  - Joshi2026
ER  -