Bird islands: India’s conservation efforts must go beyond symbolism

Why in news?

Two captive-bred male Great Indian Bustards were released into the wild at Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, raising questions about species-centric conservation.

UPSC Relevance – 

Prelims: Great Indian Bustard.

Mains GS3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

The editorial’s argument

• India’s conservation is ‘captive to symbolism’, as the focus has been on building islands for a few flagship species while landscapes and common birds decline. Landscapes, not species, should be the unit of conservation. 
• This is quite visible in celebration of breeding programmes for Great Indian Bustard while the major threats to habitat and landscapes continue such as hunting (even into the late 1970s), conversion of grasslands into irrigated, pesticide-heavy farmland, roads and, most recently, high-tension power lines. 

Conservation policy in India – the elaborate legal framework

Constitutional provisions

• Article 48A (DPSP): The State shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife.
• Article 51A(g) (Fundamental Duty): Every citizen must protect the natural environment and have compassion for living creatures.
• 42nd Amendment (1976): Added both articles and moved ‘Forests’ and ‘Protection of wild animals and birds’ from the State List to the Concurrent List.
• In M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India (2024), the GIB case, the Supreme Court recognised a right against the adverse effects of climate change under Articles 14 and 21.

Laws and policies 

• Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972: Protected areas, schedules of species, ban on hunting. The 2022 amendment cut the schedules to four and brought CITES into domestic law.
• Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980: Renamed Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam in 2023, with exemptions for some linear and security projects.
• Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and EIA Notification: Clearances for projects.
• Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (amended 2023): Access and benefit sharing; Biodiversity Management Committees at local level. 
• National Wildlife Action Plan (2017-2031): The third plan. It explicitly calls for a landscape approach and conservation outside protected areas.
• Updated National Biodiversity Action Plan (2024): Aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022), which includes the ’30 by 30′ target (protect 30% of land and sea by 2030).
• Species-centric programs – Project Tiger, Project Elephant, Project Cheetah, GIB conservation breeding

Challenges in conservation

• Flagship bias: Money and attention go to a few charismatic animals. Common birds are crashing quietly. The State of India’s Birds report (2023) found most species with long-term data in decline; the article notes skylarks fell about 80% and Indian rollers 30% in 12 years.
• ‘Fortress’ or island conservation: Animals are protected inside walls and captive breeding, but is of little use if the wild habitat where tgey eventually return, has no safe place for them.
• Grasslands treated as ‘wastelands’: Open natural ecosystems like grasslands and scrub are often marked as wasteland and given away for farms, solar parks or plantations. Very little of this habitat is protected.
• Green vs green conflict: Solar and wind parks in Thar and Kutch, with their transmission lines, are vital for India’s 500 GW clean energy target but sit in GIB habitat. The Supreme Court’s changing orders show this tension.
• Linear infrastructure: Highways, railways, canals and power lines cut through corridors; train hits and electrocution are major causes of elephant and bird deaths.
• Wrong restoration: Planting non-native or unsuitable trees (like peepal and banyan on the dry Delhi Ridge, or monoculture plantations under compensatory afforestation) does not restore native ecology.
• Dilution of safeguards: Exemptions under the 2023 forest law amendment and faster clearances raise fears of habitat loss outside protected areas.
• Exclusion of communities: Displacement and poor implementation of the Forest Rights Act create hostility, though communities like the Bishnois show how local people can protect wildlife.
• Climate change: Shifts in rainfall and temperature are changing habitats faster than reserves can adapt.

Way forward

• Landscapes, not species: Plan at the scale of whole landscapes, as with the Terai Arc Landscape, and secure corridors between protected areas.
• Protect open ecosystems: Remove grasslands from ‘wasteland’ classifications, and create a national grassland policy with community grazing rules.
• Biodiversity-friendly energy: Mark ‘go/no-go’ zones for solar and wind; bury lines or fit bird diverters in critical habitat; place parks on degraded land outside key habitats.
• Safe infrastructure: Follow the Wildlife Institute of India guidelines on linear infrastructure, with underpasses, overpasses and speed limits in corridors.
• Conservation beyond protected areas: Use community reserves, sacred groves and OECMs (other effective area-based conservation measures) to meet the 30 by 30 target. Examples: the demoiselle cranes protected by villagers at Khichan (Rajasthan) and the pelicans at Kokkare Bellur (Karnataka).
• Fund the unglamorous: Expand the Species Recovery Programme to less-known birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects; regular monitoring of common species.
• Native restoration: Restore ecosystems with native species suited to the local ecology.
• People at the centre: Implement the Forest Rights Act properly and share benefits with local communities through Biodiversity Management Committees.

India’s conservation success will be judged not by the number of animals in enclosures, but by how many can survive in the open alongside people.

Great Indian Bustard (GIB)

• Status: IUCN Critically Endangered; Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972; CITES Appendix I; CMS Appendix I.
• Identity: One of the heaviest flying birds; State bird of Rajasthan, locally called ‘Godawan’. Salim Ali wanted it as the national bird.
• Range: Mainly Jaisalmer and Barmer (Desert National Park); small numbers in Gujarat (Kutch), Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• Indicator species: Its presence signals healthy dry grasslands, which also support the lesser florican, chinkara, desert fox and Indian wolf.

Practice MCQ

Q1. Consider the following statements about the Great Indian Bustard:

1. It is classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
2. It is the State bird of Rajasthan.
3. It is listed in Schedule II of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

How many of the above statements are correct?

(a) 1 and 2

(b) 2 and 3 

(c) 1 and 3

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (a). Statement 3 is incorrect. The GIB is listed in Schedule I, which gives the highest level of protection.

Mains Practice Question

Q. “India’s conservation policy has saved flagship species but often at the cost of wider landscapes.” Critically examine this statement with suitable examples, and suggest measures to move towards a landscape-based approach to conservation. (15 marks, 250 words)