Great Indian Bustard Conservation: Renewable Energy Development with Habitat Protection in Rajasthan and Gujarat
- TPP
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
The Great Indian Bustard (GIB), an iconic and critically endangered bird, has become the focal point of a new conservation initiative aimed at balancing the protection of its habitats with the growing demands of renewable energy infrastructure.
Recently, a Supreme Court-appointed expert committee proposed a set of measures to allow renewable energy companies to continue their development, while also offering much-needed relief to the GIB. These recommendations include the establishment of designated power corridors specifically intended for transmission lines that would not harm the birds, particularly in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The Great Indian Bustard is a bird of significant ecological importance. It is the largest of the four bustard species found in India, and as a terrestrial bird, it spends most of its time on the ground, although it occasionally takes short flights between different parts of its habitat. Its diet, consisting of insects, lizards, and grass seeds, places it at the heart of the grassland ecosystem, which is vital for maintaining the balance of local biodiversity. The GIB’s role as a flagship species makes it a symbol of the health of the grasslands, and its population decline signals a larger environmental issue.
Unfortunately, over the years, the GIB’s population has steadily dwindled. Once spread across much of the Indian subcontinent, its current range has been reduced to just 10% of its historical habitat, with fewer than 150 individuals left. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the species as Critically Endangered, signaling that it is on the brink of extinction. Along with habitat loss, the GIB has faced numerous threats, including predation of eggs, poaching, and most recently, the fatal risk posed by overhead power lines, which have become one of the leading causes of its population decline.
The importance of protecting the GIB has been recognized through several national and international legal frameworks. The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 has listed the species under Schedule I, offering it the highest protection. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) have also granted the GIB protected status, making it a priority species for conservation efforts in India.
Given the precarious situation of the GIB, the Rajasthan government and the Indian Ministry of Environment initiated a recovery project as early as 2012-2013, aimed at reversing the bird’s decline. The program received significant financial support in 2016, when a grant of Rs 33.85 crore was allocated over seven years. The funds have been directed towards habitat improvement, the establishment of conservation breeding programs, and scientific research, including telemetry-based bird tracking and population surveys.
Did you know? The Great Indian Bustard is the state bird of Rajasthan. Notably, Rajasthan has the largest remaining population of the GIBs. |
In 2018, a tripartite agreement was signed between the Ministry of Environment, the Rajasthan Forest Department, and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), to further these efforts by setting up Conservation Breeding Centers (CBC), which will play a pivotal role in ensuring the GIB’s future.
The challenge, however, lies in reconciling these conservation efforts with the demands of India’s rapidly expanding renewable energy sector. As the country moves towards ambitious solar and wind energy targets, large swathes of land in Rajasthan and Gujarat are being converted for energy production, which risks further encroaching on GIB habitats.
This led to the Supreme Court intervening in 2021, ordering that all power lines in GIB habitats be buried underground. However, after concerns regarding the economic feasibility and technical challenges of such a move, the court appointed an expert committee in 2024 to reassess the issue and propose a practical solution that balances energy development with conservation.
The expert committee’s revised proposal suggests the creation of designated power corridors within GIB habitats in Rajasthan and Gujarat. These corridors, which would be 5 km wide in Rajasthan and between 1-2 km in Gujarat, would allow power lines to pass through areas designated for renewable energy development without significantly impacting the birds. Furthermore, the committee recommended expanding the GIB conservation zones, with a 14,013 sq km priority area in Rajasthan (up from 13,163 sq km) and 740 sq km in Gujarat (up from 500 sq km), focusing conservation efforts in these areas.
Despite these positive changes, the committee’s recommendations still face challenges. While the proposed power corridors offer a compromise, there are debates about the technicalities of undergrounding power lines, especially those with 220 kV and above. These high-voltage lines pose the greatest threat to GIBs, and the committee has called for these to be individually assessed for mitigation measures. Some lines that are in high-risk habitats may need to be immediately buried underground to prevent further bird deaths. Additionally, the committee proposes that new power lines should only be allowed in the designated corridors, where the risk to GIBs would be minimized.
The committee’s proposals are not only focused on infrastructure but also on reviving the GIB population itself, particularly in Gujarat, where the bird’s numbers have dwindled even further. One promising approach is the “jump start” method, where eggs from advanced-stage GIBs in Rajasthan will be incubated by wild GIB females in Gujarat, aiming to boost the local population. This technique, which has been used successfully in other species, could offer a lifeline to the Gujarat GIBs, helping to repopulate the state’s diminishing population. Additionally, tagging the remaining wild GIBs in Gujarat will provide essential data on their movement and help tailor future conservation efforts.
The long-term recovery program for the GIB, which runs through 2033, is designed to be comprehensive. The immediate phase of the plan, running until 2029, will focus on upgrading the Conservation Breeding Centers (CBC) in Ramdevra and Sorsan in Rajasthan. This will include building a new artificial insemination lab that could play a crucial role in increasing the GIB population through controlled breeding. With significant funding from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAFP), which supports afforestation projects, these breeding programs aim to stabilize GIB populations and help the species recover in the wild.
This ongoing effort to save the Great Indian Bustard serves as a critical test case for the broader challenge of balancing environmental conservation with the need for sustainable development. The recommendations from the expert committee represent a delicate compromise that allows India to pursue its ambitious renewable energy goals while simultaneously protecting one of its most endangered species. By focusing on designated power corridors, implementing mitigation measures for existing power lines, and continuing robust breeding and monitoring efforts, there is hope that the GIB population can recover and thrive. The future of the Great Indian Bustard now rests on the successful implementation of these measures, along with continued cooperation between government agencies, conservationists, and the renewable energy sector.
World Nature Conservation Day 2025
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