Bird islands

Why in the News

Two male Great Indian Bustards have been released into the wild at the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer, under a conservation plan that now holds 97 birds. It is a rare gain for a species of about 120, but India still protects single species in enclosed pockets rather than whole landscapes.

What is the Great Indian Bustard programme, and why was it needed?

1. What the programme does: The Great Indian Bustard (‘Godawan’) is a heavy Rajasthan grassland bird. The plan breeds it in captivity for release, like a nursery raising saplings.
2. National bird debate: Salim Ali wanted it named the national bird so that protection would follow. The Indian Board for Wildlife chose the peacock.
3. Why it was needed: The bird numbered about 1,260 in 1969 and has been close to extinction for nearly half a century, pushed down by:
   • hunting, royal hunts included, into the late 1970s;
   • irrigation, turning grasslands once dismissed as ‘wastelands’ into pesticide-soaked fields and roads;
   • power lines, the most recent threat.
4. The takeaway: Captive breeding can lift numbers, but it does not undo the habitat loss that caused the decline.

What has the breeding plan achieved?

1. Captive-bred stock: 57 birds in the plan are captive-bred, and nine more await release.
2. Breeding output: The captive-bred birds produced 29 chicks this year, up from 24 last year.
3. Ceremony: The Union and Rajasthan Environment Ministers attended a release marked by “considerable bureaucratic pomp”.

Why were power-line protections narrowed?

1. Collision risk: The heavy, poor-sighted bustard flies at the height of high-tension lines, so wires in its path endanger it.
2. Supreme Court order, 2021: The Supreme Court ordered that low-voltage lines in the bird’s priority habitats be laid underground.
3. Modified order: Renewable energy companies objected that undergrounding raised the cost of solar power. The Court then limited the order to lines in the bird’s narrower ‘critical’ habitat.

Why is species-by-species conservation falling short?

1. Neglected birds: The Godawan now features in government and private marketing, but most get no such attention. Nearly 1,256 bird species, about 11.5% of the world’s total, are threatened.
2. Common birds in decline: Skylark numbers have fallen nearly 80% in 12 years.
3. ‘Captive to symbolism’: India’s policy favours showcase moves over habitats:
   • a tigress from Valmiki flown to Buxa;
   • African cheetahs kept in enclosures;
   • Gir’s lions confined to Saurashtra and straying into villages;
   • the Delhi Ridge planted with peepal and banyan unsuited to its dry ecology.
4. Islands of protection: Policy praises coexistence of people and wildlife on paper. In practice it builds isolated, walled African-style reserves that keep animals apart from people.
5. Overflow into farms: Animals thriving inside walls spill into villages and fields, as elephants show. So landscapes, not species, should be the unit of conservation.

Challenges

1. Partial line protection: Undergrounding only in critical habitat leaves birds exposed wherever they fly beyond it.
2. Grasslands undervalued: Open grasslands are treated as unproductive land, so they are easily diverted to farms and solar parks.
3. Small founder pool: A flock bred from few birds risks low genetic diversity and poor survival after release.
4. Flagship bias: Declines in common birds draw little policy attention compared with flagship species.

Way Forward

1. Bird diverters: Power utilities should fit bird diverters (reflective markers that make wires visible) across the bustard’s wider range.
2. Grassland reserves: Rajasthan should notify key grasslands as conservation reserves under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
3. Landscape plans: The Union Environment Ministry should plan conservation across protected areas, farmland and corridors, with village participation.
4. Bird monitoring: Fund regular national surveys of common birds so declines are caught early.

Conclusion

India can now breed a near-extinct bird in captivity but has not secured the open landscapes it needs. Whether the bustard’s wider range is shielded from power lines and land conversion will show if conservation moves beyond showcase releases.

Key numbers

1. Bustard decline: 600 birds by 2000.
2. Rajasthan count: 140 to 175 birds by the 2010s.
3. Indian roller decline: about 30% in 12 years.

Back2Basics: Great Indian Bustard

1. Threat status: Listed as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
2. Legal cover: Protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
3. State bird: It is the State bird of Rajasthan.
4. Range: Most survivors live in Rajasthan’s Thar Desert, with a few in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2023] Consider the following statements: 1. In India, the Biodiversity Management Committees are key to the realization of the objectives of the Nagoya Protocol. 2. The Biodiversity Management Committees have important functions in determining acces and benefit sharing, including the power to levy collection fees on the access of biological resources within its jurisdiction. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 ANSWER: (c)”