Govt frames national plan to conserve migratory birds, their habitats

To arrest the decline in population of migratory birds flying in from Eurasia during winters and to secure their habitats, the Union Environment Ministry has brought out a National Action Plan (NAP) for conservation.

Central Asian Flyway (CAF) is one among nine flyways in the world that comprises multiple migration routes used by birds across 30 countries. In winter, water birds migrate from their northernmost breeding grounds in Russia and Central Asia to South Asia, Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory.

But with extensive land-use changes and climate change, both land birds and waterbirds have been affected.

The plan comprises four broad components -- species conservation, habitat conservation and sustainable management, capacity development and communication outreach. The NAP includes two action points that have not been carried out before. It will set out to create and publish a national inventory of the stop-over and wintering sites of migratory birds and their population status. This will also include wetlands and terrestrial habitats such as pastures and farmlands.

According to senior officials of the environment ministry, the aim is to prepare inventories in a year's time and Bombay Natural History Society would be a major collaborator for carrying out studies.

Secondly, it has identified 20 species which would be the focus of a coordinated conservation plan.

Birds in the near threatened category such as Eurasian Curlew, Crab Plover and Black-tailed Godwit, the Greater and Lesser Flamingo, endangered species such as Yellow-breasted Bunting and critically endangered Sociable Lapwing are among the 20 identified in the NAP. India is the winter home for 90 per cent of bird species that are known to take this migratory route and at least 370 species of migratory birds from three flyways are reported to visit the Indian subcontinent, the plan said, while 171 waterbirds use wintering sites in India.

Further, the NAP has also stressed and proposed that a Decision Support System (DSS) is a "pressing need" to identify risks to migratory birds from development projects. Currently, the union environment ministry has at its disposal a DSS while appraising projects that need diversion of forest land. Officials from the ministry said that plans are afoot to develop a similar system for birds which will be based on research of their population, migration patterns and existing data sets of bird ringing.

Decision System

Currently, the union environment ministry has at its disposal a DSS while appraising projects that need diversion of forest land. Officials from the ministry said that plans are afoot to develop a similar system for birds