India at IWC70 in Hobart: Science-Based Cetacean Conservation as the Whaling Convention Turns 80

On 28 September 2026, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) said India had underscored whale and cetacean conservation at the 70th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC70) in Hobart, Tasmania (Australia), held from 28 September to 2 October 2026. In its opening statement, India called for continued collaboration among range countries, scientific institutions and international organisations, and for better scientific information on the population status, distribution, movements, breeding ecology and threats of cetaceans, so that conservation rests on evidence-based approaches. The meeting coincides with the 80th anniversary of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), signed on 2 December 1946.