The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (WPA, 1972) is a landmark Act of the Parliament of India, enacted to provide a legal framework for the conservation, protection, and management of the country's wild animals, birds, and plants. It was enacted on September 9, 1972, to address the rapid decline of wildlife and replace a patchwork of weak, state-level regulations with uniform national restrictions. The Act's objectives include prohibiting the hunting of endangered species, regulating the trade of wildlife products, and establishing protected areas like National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
The Act works by categorizing species into schedules based on their protection status, with Schedule I species receiving the highest level of protection and attracting the harshest penalties under Section 51. Section 9 of the Act imposes a near-total ban on hunting wild animals. The WPA, 1972 is connected to the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976, which moved forests and wildlife protection to the Concurrent List, and it facilitated India's entry into the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It also paved the way for institutions like the Central Zoo Authority (1992) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
The Act underwent a significant overhaul with the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022, passed in December 2022. This amendment reduced the original six schedules to four to rationalize the protection framework and added a new Chapter VB to implement CITES provisions, including the establishment of a Management Authority. The amendment also introduced a mechanism under Section 62A to regulate or prohibit the trade of invasive alien species and significantly increased the maximum fine for general violations from ₹25,000 to ₹1 lakh. A controversial provision was added under Section 43, allowing the transfer or transport of a captive elephant for a "religious or any other purpose".