BENGALURU: Amid a slew of wildlife conservation plans that Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed on Monday while chairing the seventh meeting of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) at Sasan in Gujarat’s Junagadh district, particular mention of reviving the almost-extinct population of great Indian bustard (GIB) lifted the hopes of forest and wildlife officials in Karnataka.
In August 2024, the state’s GIB sighting was just two, at Siruguppa in Ballari. But this year, only one was sighted in Bidar — the smallest sighted population of this endangered bird species in India.
The shocking decline in the GIB population is being attributed to poaching, habitat loss, collisions with windmills, power lines and vehicles. “Before it is completely wiped out, collaborative work needs to be done,” a wildlife official said.
At the meeting, the PM announced a National Great Indian Bustard Conservation Action Plan and a task force, stressing on the need to upscale conservation efforts for GIBs. Karnataka forest officials are particularly elated as they had earlier discussed and proposed to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to include Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh along with Karnataka to revive the GIB population.
‘State will have to protect GIB habitats’
Rajasthan has set up a GIB breeding centre and Karnataka is looking to get the second generation of GIBs from the breeding centre to revive the GIB population in the state.
Forest officials and wildlife experts, however, informed The New Indian Express that ahead of any conservation plan being put in place, the state will have to improve and protect GIB habitats. Experts and MoEFCC officials said that a minimum of 300-400 sqkm protected grassland patch is required to revive the GIB population. The area should be free of cattle, dogs and carnivores.
“In Karnataka, dangling cables, presence of watch towers, human intervention and predators also affect conservation. Work on protecting the habitat needs to be sped up before taking the project ahead,” a Karnataka forest department official said, requesting not to be identified. Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, Kumar Pushkar said the minutes of the meeting and the project details will be studied. The GIB is one of the many projects in which all states can work together to revive and protect the species, he said.
Modi chaired the NBWL meeting in his capacity as its ex-officio chairperson. According to ministry officials, Modi is the second PM to chair NBWL after Manmohan Singh in 2010.