Gujarat Govt allots 1,500 hectare land for Bustard habitat development

Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India) Dec 19 (PTI) In a bid to boost the wildlife conservation programme in Gujarat, the western Indian state's government has alloted 1,500 hectare land in Kutch district for developing a habitat for the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard. This land spread across two sq km area has been alloted near the Kutch Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary which is also considered as a prime breeding ground of this endangered species. The Great Indian Bustard (GIB) was listed to the 'Critically Endangered' status, the highest level of threat, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in June this year. According to a recent report by India's Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), population of the GIB has been dwindling very fast and the bustards have disappeared from about 90 per cent of its range, while about 75 per cent decline has been observed within a three generation time scale. "We have alloted 1,500 hectare revenue land to the forest department recently for conservation of GIB," Kutch district collector M Thennarasan told PTI. This has been done on request of the forest department, he said. "Since the Bustards like grassland we plan to develop natural grass land in the area," Gujarat's Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) D K Sharma said. "Presently the area alloted is spoiled due to agriculture activity and human interference. We would be first stopping any kind of agriculture and develop grassland, besides any other protection required," he said. Because the GIBs are very shy and sensitive birds and get disturbed due to even the slightest movement, a need was felt to increase the area of the sanctuary, Sharma said. As per the last census in 2007, there were 47 bustards in the sanctuary. "We also plan to propose to the government of India to declare this area as eco-fragile zone under the Environment Protection Act," Sharma said. Forest department officials said that further demand for over 3,500 hectare land for the same purpose is still under consideration. According to IUCN, hunting, disturbance, habitat loss and fragmentation have all conspired to reduce this magnificent species to perhaps as few as 250. Standing a metre in height and weighing nearly 15 kg, the Great Indian Bustard was once found in large number across the grasslands of India and Pakistan but is now restricted to small and isolated fragments of the remaining habitat. Under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats, the MoEF has last month come out with draft of Guidelines for the Great Indian Bustard Recovery Programme. Former Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had also written to the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in June 2010 to convert the revenue land to forest land for conservation of endangered bird and thereby prevent extinction of GIB from Gujarat. During a recent meeting with Asian Regional Director of IUCN, Modi had expressed desire to develop eco-tourism and to promote tourism activities for the bird viewers in the state. GIB or Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is a bustard found in India and the adjoining regions of Pakistan. It is a large bird with a horizontal body and long bare legs giving it an ostrich like appearance and is among the heaviest of the flying birds. The GIB, is found in arid and semi-arid grasslands and scrubs containing scattered bushes and some cultivation.Their highest living number is found in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, followed by the western Gujarat. PTI