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Picture Courtesy: Indian Express

Context:

The Supreme Court pronounced a significant judgement on December 19 addressing conservation issues of the Great Indian Bustard and on preventing their deaths due to collisions with power lines evacuating electricity from renewable energy projects.

What were the key questions before the Supreme Court regarding the conservation of the Great Indian Bustard?

The Supreme Court was examining a petition filed in 2019 seeking urgent intervention to conserve the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard and to prevent its deaths caused by collisions with overhead power transmission lines in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

• Declining population of the Great Indian Bustard: The Court was examining the alarming decline of the Great Indian Bustard population, with fewer than about 150 individuals remaining, and whether immediate legal and administrative measures were required to prevent the species from becoming extinct. 

• Impact of power transmission lines: The Court was examining how expansion of overhead power transmission lines from renewable energy projects was causing frequent fatal collisions, due to the bird’s poor frontal vision and heavy body, which make it difficult for it to detect and avoid wires while flying. 

• Adequacy of existing conservation efforts: The Court was examining whether the existing conservation measures taken by the Central and State Governments were adequate, effective, and timely to ensure the long-term survival and recovery of the species. 

• Feasibility of undergrounding power lines: The Supreme Court was examining the technical and economic feasibility of placing high-voltage and medium-voltage transmission lines underground in Great Indian Bustard habitats, as a way to eliminate collision risk. 

• Balancing renewable energy expansion and species conservation: The Court was examining how to balance India’s commitments to expand renewable energy for climate change mitigation with the obligation to conserve a critically endangered species that is legally protected under wildlife laws. 

• Need for emergency and long-term conservation measures: The Court was examining the need to frame both emergency recovery plans and long-term conservation strategies, including habitat protection, breeding programs, and community participation, to ensure the survival of the Great Indian Bustard.

What are the key measures highlighted by the Supreme Court?

• Revision of priority conservation areas: The Supreme Court ordered a revision of the priority conservation areas for the Great Indian Bustard in Rajasthan and Gujarat, expanding their extent to include the most important breeding and movement habitats of the species. 

• Creation of power-line corridors: The Court ordered the creation of dedicated power-line corridors where rerouted overhead transmission lines will be located, so that power infrastructure remains concentrated in specific zones and does not fragment the bird’s habitat. 

• Restrictions on new power projects in priority areas: The Supreme Court ordered that no new overhead power lines, except those passing through designated corridors, and no new wind turbines should be allowed within the revised priority areas, and that large solar parks above 2 megawatts should not be permitted. 

• Undergrounding and rerouting of hazardous power lines: The Court ordered that specific high-risk power lines in the priority areas must either be shifted underground or rerouted, with clear timelines for completion, to prevent collisions and reduce mortality of the Great Indian Bustard. 

• Voltage-based mitigation measures: The Supreme Court ordered that lower and medium-voltage lines such as 33 kV and 66 kV lines in identified critical stretches must be buried underground immediately, while higher-voltage lines should be rerouted through designated corridors wherever feasible. 

• Completion timelines for mitigation work: The Court ordered that all undergrounding and rerouting work should begin immediately and be completed within fixed deadlines, with several priority stretches to be finished by 2028. 

• Monitoring the effectiveness of bird diverters: The Court ordered that instead of blanket installation of bird flight diverters everywhere, an expert committee should scientifically evaluate their effectiveness in reducing collisions and submit its findings to the Central Government. 

• Conservation and habitat management directions: The Supreme Court ordered a set of in-situ conservation measures such as grassland restoration, predator control, improvement of enclosures, food and water management, and community engagement in Rajasthan and Gujarat. 

• Support to captive breeding and ‘Jump-Start’ method: The Court ordered support for ongoing Project GIB and permitted the use of the jump-start technique in Gujarat, where fertile eggs from Rajasthan may be used to raise chicks in the wild to strengthen the local population. 

Government initiatives for Great Indian Bustard:

National Bustard Recovery Programme: The Government of India has launched the National Bustard Recovery Programme to protect the Great Indian Bustard along with the Lesser Florican and Bengal Florican, focusing on habitat improvement, threat reduction, captive breeding, and involvement of local communities in conservation.

Project Great Indian Bustard (Project GIB): Project GIB specifically targets the long-term survival of the Great Indian Bustard by strengthening both in-situ protection in natural habitats and ex-situ conservation through breeding support, systematic monitoring, protection of nesting areas, and control of threats such as predators and power-line collisions.

Conservation Breeding Centres: The government, in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India and state forest departments, has established captive breeding and conservation breeding centres in Rajasthan where eggs collected from the wild are incubated artificially and chicks are reared for future release into secure habitats.

Habitat Management: The government has taken steps to restore grasslands by removing invasive species, managing grazing pressure, conserving fallow open lands, and creating secure nesting enclosures so that suitable breeding habitat is available for the species.

State-Level Initiatives: In Rajasthan, “Project Godawan” focuses on protection in the Desert National Park landscape through predator control, water provisioning, habitat management, and community engagement, while in Gujarat, special initiatives include the jump-start technique using fertile eggs, GPS tagging of birds, and targeted habitat management in the Kutch region.

Conclusion:

The conservation of the Great Indian Bustard now rests on a combination of strong legal protection, targeted habitat management, reduction of power-line mortality, captive breeding, and community participation. With coordinated efforts by the Centre, states, scientists, and local communities, India still has a narrow but real opportunity to **prevent the species from going extinct and revive its remaining populations.

Source: Indian Express