Written by: Mubina Akhtar
In a country as diverse as India, community participation assumes critical significance when it comes to biodiversity conservation. With global warming and climate change posing threats to vegetation, plant, and faunal diversity, the importance of conserving biodiversity is gaining momentum. Conservation success stories all over the world trace back to strong support from the community. There have been many inspiring stories of community conservation of biodiversity in India’s Northeastern region.
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The Bugun Liocichla (Liocichla bugunorum Athreya 2006) is a bird species found in Arunachal Pradesh. In 1995, renowned ornithologist Dr. Ramana Athreya discovered this bird in the Singchung Bugun Village on the fringes of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary of West Kameng district. The Bugun community is known for its tireless endeavor towards conserving biodiversity. Dr. Athreya named the bird after this community as a mark of respect for their conservation efforts. The bird has not only given a new identity to the Bugun tribe but also a handsome annual income, which was beyond their imagination—that people could spend good money just to watch birds!
The conservation successes of the Bugun community inspired awareness campaigns to save wildlife across the state. Arunachal is a state where hunting has been a community practice, and the easy availability of guns and rifles made it more difficult for the authorities to enforce the Wildlife (Protection) Act. It was only through continuous awareness campaigns led by the forest department, local administration, and civil society groups that people were made to realize the importance of wildlife in balancing the environment. Thousands and thousands of birds are killed every year on their non-breeding grounds by communities because of a lack of awareness, subsistence use, and commercial drivers.
“We need to change our mindset of looking at birds and animals only as a source of meat, as hunting isn’t a necessity in today’s date. We also need to understand the important role that wildlife plays in balancing the environment,” said Arunachal Pradesh Minister of Forest and Environment Mama Natung during a program where locals of the Upper Siang district surrendered some 285 air guns. The ‘Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan’ was launched in March 2021 in Lumdung village of East Kameng district. The campaign gained momentum over the years, and thousands of air guns were surrendered in different parts of the state, thanks to Natung’s initiative to win people away from hunting. After all, winning community support holds the key to conservation.
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The Khonoma model
Long before the Amur falcon conservation story made headlines, it was the story of a community conservation initiative from Khonoma—a remote village in Nagaland—that has become a model for many more conservation efforts elsewhere. One of the most scenic states in the northeastern region of India, Nagaland is blessed with great valleys, high mountains, meandering streams, and a rich variety of flora and fauna. Each wildlife sanctuary is different from the other in terms of variety and scenic beauty. The state has a rich pheasant (Galliformes) diversity, including quails and tragopan species like the Blyth’s tragopan (Tragopan blythii). Over the years, the destruction of habitats, logging, and hunting resulted in a sharp decline in the pheasant population in the state.
While the majority of galliformes are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 that prohibits their killing or capture, law enforcement has had been quite difficult as people were largely ignorant about the protected status of these birds. This state of affairs continued until a conservation saga unfolded slowly in Khonoma.
The villagers of Khonoma, with the active support of local NGOs, took up the cudgel to control hunting and habitat destruction for the effective management of protected areas and the conservation of flora and fauna. Khonoma adopted a unique way of wildlife conservation that became a model for the region. The Blyth’s Tragopan, an endangered pheasant, became the flagship species in the Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary. The sanctuary, spread over 30 sq km under the Khonoma Green Village Project, is a birder’s delight.
Birds need their space
Highlighting the need for a healthy coexistence between humans and birds, this year’s World Migratory Bird Day campaign theme has been carefully chosen as–“Shared Spaces: Creating Bird-Friendly Cities and Communities.” The focus is on creating and adapting environments that support migratory bird populations across all communities—from bustling cities to smaller towns and rural communities—where everyone can take actions to protect the shared spaces with wildlife. There are key links between migratory bird conservation and local community development, and it has become pertinent to create awareness about migratory birds and to celebrate the day to communicate and learn from each other across borders.
A good number of avifauna reflects the health of the ecosystem. A very large proportion of the winged species eat insects—ants, aphids, beetles, crickets, flies, grasshoppers, slugs, worms, etc.—a very effective control upon insect pests in agriculture. Frugivorous birds are important agents in the dissemination of seeds and in extending the distribution of plants over vast stretches; many other species help in cross-pollinating and fertilizing flowers, and a number of species indulge in scavenging—a considerable service to us.
The legendary ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali once wrote—“In the years to come, the importance of this branch of bird study, known as Economic Ornithology, is bound to receive due recognition in our country—though it has received it long since in the West.” There is a large network of sites that the birds depend on for migration, and the loss of these sites makes them vulnerable. The major factors for the decline in the population of migratory species include loss, modification, fragmentation, and degradation of habitat; hunting; pollutants; land use patterns; developmental activities; etc. Migratory birds have to compete for food and space amidst these challenges and a burgeoning human population. Whether migratory or resident—all birds need their space!
Urban planning and conservation efforts
World Migratory Bird Day is now celebrated twice a year—on the second Saturdays of May and October—aligning with the cyclic nature of bird migration and the varying peak periods in the northern and southern hemispheres. This has been done keeping in focus the urgency needed to raise global awareness on the threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological importance, and the need to raise awareness about the many challenges migratory birds face due to human activities and expanding urban development.
It becomes increasingly pertinent for each of us to raise awareness of the current state of conservation of migratory birds, highlighting the general and specific threats that birds are facing as well as the potential ways to ensure safe corridors during their migrations. This could be done by connecting people at key migratory bird sites, reinforcing education and awareness about the need to protect them and the habitats they rely upon.
The World Migratory Bird Day campaign this year advocates for strategic urban planning and conservation efforts for bird-friendly practices. Urban ecosystems provide important services for human well-being and are also home to biodiversity with an abundance of insects, birds, and other wildlife species. Destroying urban ecosystems in the name of development reflects the improvidence of our city planners. Birds abound in all our cities, and one can see the most exotic feathers fly past in the most ordinary of settings.
My most enjoyable spells of bird-watching have always been near my home—sparrows, grey tits, warblers, sunbirds, tailor birds, bee-eaters, doves, bulbuls, mynahs, drongos, swifts, parakeets, barbets, hoopoes, kingfishers, shrikes, babblers, tree pies, the black-headed oriole, the perching magpie robin with its upright tail, an occasional cuckoo, and a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills! I happened to spot the Green-billed Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus tristis), a member of the Old World cuckoo family, for the first time in the Nilachal hills.
The urban landscape of Guwahati—the capital city of Assam—is teeming with rich birdlife. While the Garbhanga forest and the Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary are still considered favorable destinations for birders, the Hengrabari Reserved Forest (RF) at the heart of the city has over the years lost much of its charm. The RF that houses the state zoo and botanical garden lost much of its 628 hectares. Except for the area under the zoo, most of the forest has been lost, and with it dimmed the scope of bird watching!
The only consolation it now offers is the celebration of a Day dedicated to the birds! Nature lovers from across the state would throng to the zoo every third of July to celebrate birds under the banner of the State Bird Day Celebration Committee—a group as diverse as housewives, teachers, litterateurs, and engineers—with a still diverse range of programs—ballads, elegies, and odes on birds and nature; procession; film shows; religious hymns and discourses that tell of conservation since time immemorial! For me, the most striking part of the celebration is the interaction—the growing awareness, the effort to get us acquainted with our environment. This certainly adds to our interest in life and gives us a sense of belonging.