It is now a race against time to save the Great Indian Bustards in the country with their overall numbers now pegged at just 30.
In Rajasthan, their number has fallen alarmingly- from 44 as recorded by WII last year to merely 13 now. Rajasthan was believed to be having the highest number of this critically endangered bird. The two other states that presently have the population of this bird are Gujarat and Maharashtra that are left with 11 and 6 birds, respectively.
While Environment Ministry is funding a project of above Rs38 crore out of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) to save the species, Japan Bank For International Cooperation has committed a support of Rs3 crore to the GIB conservation project and Rajasthan forest department has allotted more than Rs12 crore. However, conservationists are skeptical of these last bid efforts, based on captive breeding of the bird.
According to sources, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has recently submitted a proposal for captive breeding of GIB. This was aimed at garnering financial assistance under CAMPA with WII, and the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra as the implementation agencies. The proposed budget has been pegged at Rs33.85 crore.
According to sources, a meeting recently held in the Environment Ministry in this regard, however is yet to come out with the desired results. Under the proposal, a conservation centre was to be set up in Gujarat. The meeting however concluded without any decision as the state refused to share the GIB eggs with Gujarat.
The experts pointed out that since Rajasthan has the largest population of GIB, guidelines of IUCN strongly suggest that ex-situ conservation is ideal and in-situ, if at all, should reflect local micro-climate. So if captive breeding is to be done at all, then the centre should be in Rajasthan.
Experts hold divergent views on the issue. According to a section, the more endangered certain species or populations of bustard become, the more there are people to step forward believing that captive breeding will supply the answer. As things stand at present, it will not.
According to them, the birds are difficult to breed in captivity and they are harder to maintain. In the past there have been several attempts to establish captive populations of GIB’s at Bikaner and Jodhpur zoos in Rajasthan, but the survival rate was very low and breeding not successful.
Yet another sanction of experts pointed out that neither Rajasthan nor Gujarat would be ideal as conducive habitat for the GIB. Both these states, presently boast of investment on wind farms that besides causing bird mortality would further eat into the nesting areas.
While Japan bank has invested in wind power in Rajasthan which according to experts is detrimental for GIB conservation, simultaneously, it has also pledged support for the conservation of the bird.