At the National Board for Wildlife meeting at Sasan in Gujarat’s Junagadh district recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired the meeting, discussed several wildlife conservation plans. Of particular importance was the announcement of the National Great Indian Bustard (GIB) Conservation Action Plan, stressing the importance of population resurrection and conservation of this bird, which is found only in India but is on the verge of extinction.
The estimated GIB population has fallen from around 300 in 2008 to 150 this year, with the largest numbers in Rajasthan, the rest across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka—the last with the least, as just two were sighted last year in Siruguppa in Ballari, and just one so far this year in Bidar. Ornithologists and wildlife experts have blamed this decline on poaching, habitat loss, collisions with windmills, power lines and vehicles, and increased rate of development.
The significance of the GIB in the country’s ecological balance and ecosystem is immense. A thriving GIB population is a strong indicator of healthy grasslands, so this bird is called the “pulse of the grasslands”. Grasslands play an extremely crucial role. They are grazing lands for livestock, sustain pastoral communities, act as a carbon sink, maintain biodiversity by providing habitats for unique wildlife species, and regulate water flow in the region—all significant for the ecosystem.
That the GIB is on the verge of extinction points accusingly to the condition of India’s shrinking grasslands. As per one estimate, from 2005 to 2015, grasslands shrunk by about 31 percent, from 18 million hectares to 12.3 million hectares. This has been attributed to agricultural expansion, overgrazing, and poor land management, which has led to a loss of biodiversity and degradation, with several grasslands of the past now classified as “wastelands”.
The National GIB Conservation Action Plan is a welcome move. The GIB is also under the Species Recovery Programme, aiming at conservation efforts. With the recently added impetus, the top priority is to create safe habitats, namely grasslands, for the GIB. Jaisalmer in Rajasthan houses the National Conservation Breeding Centre, where population resurrection is being pursued, even using methods like artificial insemination. The five states with GIB populations must work together and with the Centre to save this species from extinction.