Skip to main content

'Unsustainable' development: Gujarat's Flamingo City is grievously threatened, says UK conservation affiliate

Lesser flamingos: Near threatened 
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), an affiliate of the UK-based BirdLife International – a global conservation organization – has identified the Flamingo City in Kutch district of Gujarat as one of the ten important bird areas (IBAs) in India, which are in danger because of “unsustainable developmental policies” and “rising insensitivity towards nature.” Topping the list of ten, the BNHS believes that the situation is particularly precarious for the Flamingo City, because it is “a potential Ramsar site.”
According to Raju Kasambe and Siddhesh Surve of the BNHS, who analysed the situation in Flamingo City in a study “IBAs in Danger”, “In 1945, Sálim Ali estimated that half a million Greater and Lesser Flamingos congregated here. It is possibly the only flamingo breeding ground of this magnitude in Asia.” Part of the Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary, the first signs of danger to the Flamingo City arose in 2011, when the Gujarat roads and buildings department "submitted a proposal wanting diversion of 79.474 hectares of forest land for construction of a road passing through the sanctuary", they add.
Pointing out the direction the road was to take – “Gaduli to Hajipur-Odma-Khavda-Kunariya- Dholavira-Maovana-Gadakbet-Santalpur road” -- the environmentalists say, “It was claimed that the proposed road would facilitate movement of the Border Security Force (BSF) in this region that falls on the Indo-Pakistan border. However, other sources claim that this project is nothing but a cover for promoting and expanding tourism in the region.”
Rajy Kosambe, Siddhesh Surve
Saying that the “BSF already has a frontier road”, the BNHS experts say, “A highway through the area will not only jeopardise flamingos, but also other species including the Indian Wild Ass (Equus hemionus khur), Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), Indian Wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), and Caracal (Caracal caracal).” They add, “In September 2011, a three-member expert team from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) assessed the potential ecological impact of the project.”
The expert team said, “The proposed road would in all probability result in the abandonment of this only breeding site of flamingos, which in turn could spell doom to the population of these birds in the Indian subcontinent.” It recommended the rejection of the road proposal and an alternative alignment of the road, which would spare this fragile ecosystem from devastation, while serving the purpose of the BSF if needed.”
Other IBAs which the BNHS says are in danger include the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary, Solapur/Ahmednagar, Maharashtra; Sewri-Mahul Creek, Mumbai, Maharashtra; Sailana Kharmor Sanctuary, Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh; Tillangchong, Andaman-Nicobar; Dihaila Jheel, Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh; Karera Wildlife Sanctuary, Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh; Basai, Gurgaon, Haryana; Sardarpur Florican Sanctuary, Dhar, Madhya Pradesh; and Ranebennur, Haveri, Karnataka.
The BNHS has identified several “major reasons” behind the loss of biodiversity and habitat in these and other areas, which include
  • Destruction/disturbance due to infrastructure development,
  • Wrong anti-people conservation policies,
  • Indiscriminate livestock grazing beyond traditional pastoral lands, 4) Industrial and sewage pollution,
  • Indiscriminate agricultural expansion including use of pesticides,
  • Rapid urbanization and
  • Poaching. 
Commenting on the issue, Kasambe, who is project manager, IBA Programme, BNHS, said, “Unfortunately in India, nearly 50% of the IBAs are not getting any sort official recognition from the government agencies. These are the areas which need utmost and urgent protection, if we are really serious about saving the threatened species of birds in India. Our future generations will never pardon us for destroying the important habitats of birds in such a callous manner.”

Comments

TRENDING

Breaking news? Top Hindu builder ties up with Muslim investor for a huge minority housing society in Ahmedabad

There is a flutter in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur area, derogatorily referred to as the "border" because, on its eastern side, there is a sprawling minority area called Juhapura, where around five lakh Muslims live. The segregation is so stark that virtually no Muslim lives in Vejalpur, populated by around four lakh Hindus, and no Hindu lives in Juhapura.

60 crore in Mahakumbh? It's all hype with an eye on UP polls, asserts keen BJP supporter in Amit Shah's constituency

As the Mahakumbh drew to a close, during my daily walk, I met a veteran BJP supporter—a neighbor with whom we would often share dinner in a group. An amicable person, the first thing he asked me, as he was about to take the lift to his flat, was, "How many people do you think must have participated in the holy dip?" He then stopped by to talk—which we did for a full half-hour, cutting into my walk time.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

An untold story? Still elusive: Gujarati language studies on social history of Gujarat's caste and class evolution

This is a follow-up to my earlier blog , where I mentioned that veteran scholar Prof. Ghanshyam Shah has just completed a book for publication on a topic no academic seems to have dealt with—caste and class relations in Gujarat’s social history. He forwarded me a chapter of the book, published as an "Economic & Political Weekly" article last year, which deals with the 2015 Patidar agitation in the context of how this now-powerful caste originated in the Middle Ages and how it has evolved in the post-independence era.

Behind the scene? Ex-IAS, now Modi man in Yogi Cabinet, who lined up Mahakumbh VVIP comforts for Gujarat colleagues

The other day, I was talking to a senior IAS official about whether he or his colleagues had traveled to the recently concluded Mahakumbh in Allahabad, which was renamed Prayagraj by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as part of his intense Hindutva drive. He refused to reveal any names but said he had not gone there "despite arrangements for Gujarat cadre IAS officials" at the Mahakumbh VVIP site. "The water is too dirty—why take the risk?" he asked.

New York-based digital company traces Modi's meteoric rise to global Hindutva ecosystem over several decades

A recent document, released by the Polis Project Inc.—a New York-based digital magazine and hybrid research and journalism organization—even as seeking to highlight the alleged rise of authoritarianism in India, has sought to trace Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meteoric rise since 2014 to the ever-expanding global Hindutva ecosystem over the last several decades.

Socialist utopia challenging feudal and Brahminical systems: Kanwal Bharti on Sant Raidas’ vision of Begumpura

In a controversial claim, well-known Dalit writer and columnist Kanwal Bharti has asserted that a clever Brahminical move appears to be behind the Guru Granth Sahib changing the name of the 15th-16th century mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement, Sant Raidas, to Sant Ravidas.

What's wrong with those seeking to promote Sanskrit? An ex-Hindi professor has the answer

Ajay Tiwari  I have always wondered why certain elite sections are so fascinated by Sanskrit, to the extent of even practicing speaking a language that, for all practical purposes, isn’t alive. During my Times of India stint in Gandhinagar, the Gujarat state capital, I personally witnessed an IAS bureaucrat, Bhagyesh Jha, trying to converse with a friend in Sanskrit.