Taking up the cause of the endangered Great Indian Bustard

Taking up the cause of the endangered great Indian Bustard,
Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh has written to Gujarat Chief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, requesting him to conserve one of the last remaining habitats of the golden birds – The Adbassa Grasslands in Kutch, Gujarat - India.

Hon. Minister has expressed concern at the dwindling population of the birds and sought steps to prevent diversions of revenue land for agriculture purposes in the grassland in Naliya area in Kutch.

Promising all the possible help in this direction, he has urged Chief Minister - Mr.Modi to personally intervene to save the habit ant of the golden birds whose number has reduced to 500 in the world.

“I am writing to request you to immediately intervene and prevent the diversion of revenue gauchar land to agriculture and to ensure that the district officials support the Naliya conservation initiatives”.

“If we do not intervene the possibility of the birds going extinct in Gujarat is very real and high,” the Union Minister said in the letter to Mr. Modi.

Though covering an area of only about 20sq. km, Adbassa Grassland is considered very important for bird conservation as three species of bustard are found there. The endangered Great Indian Bustard is a resident, the endangered Lesser Florican breeds here during Monsoon and the near- threatened Macqueen’s Bustard is a winter visitor.

Minister Mr.Ramesh also drew the attention of Chief Minister Mr.Modi to the fact that the bird was once proposed to be adopted as the India’s national bird and hence “its conservation is equally important as that of Lions and tigers”.

Listed in Schedule-1 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the bird is classified as “endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red List 2002.
IUCN has warned that the Great Indian Bustard could become extinct within a decade. Listed in appendix- 1 of the Contention on international trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flore, international trade and killing of the bird is prohibited.

COURTESY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT - The Times of India, Ahmedabad - Monday, June, 28, 2010

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