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India will strongly support all initiatives to welcome back the Siberian Crane to our existing and future network of wetlands. This was stated here today by Minister of Environment and Forests Thiru A. Raja, while inaugurating the meeting of delegates from 30 countries to endorse the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) Action Plan to conserve migratory waterbirds and their habitats here today.
Stating that India attaches significance of the highest degree to the resident waterbirds as well as migratory waterbirds, being considered as a National Heritage, Thiru Raja said that supporting legislation and policies are in place to protect them.
“The conservation and management of waterbirds is a priority under the National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016) duly supported by the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. India also has bilateral arrangements with neighbouring nations as well as multilateral agreements to safeguard the migratory waterbirds, transcending national jurisdictions”, the Minister pointed out.
Stating that India has made a modest, but strongly grounded beginning for conserving her wetlands, Thiru Raja further said that nineteen Ramsar sites have been notified and many more are being evaluated for nomination, together with a complimentary programme for their management.
“The scientific organizations of the country have recommended over 300 potential sites. The prospect of setting up a National Network of Wetland Protected Area and a National Wetland Policy is also under consideration by Government of India”, the Minister said, adding that “wetlands comprise the more important habitat type for conservation of waterbirds. Unfortunately, these are dwindling in some areas due to the pressures of livelihood needs of the people”.
Expressing India’s strong commitment to the sustainable use of these wetlands, Thiru Raja also called for evolving strategies for use of these wetlands to address the twin pronged issues of conservation and needs of the communities.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Shri Namo Narain Meena, said that India supports more than 1200 species of birds, of which more than 250 species are waterbirds. Many of these species are migratory, which require conducive habitats, which are located in different countries across North, Central and Southern Asia.
“Though, bird migration has been known to the human kind for a long time, conservation of their habitats has been a challenging task. The exponential growth in human population, political unrest and war, hunting and the rapid degradation of the wetland habitats along the migratory routes adversely affected the waterbird populations”, Shri Meena observed.
Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Dr Prodipto Ghosh said that India shares its boundary with other countries of extremely rich biological diversity in the South Asian sub-continent and therefore, has sites of significant importance to be managed as trans-boundary Protected Areas, for example, Suderbans, West Coast Mangroves, the coral reef systems in the Gulf of Mannar, the Terai region in the foothills of the Himalayas and Manas in North-East. Stating that the migratory fauna do not recognize political boundaries, Dr Ghosh said that India would look forward to establishing cooperative arrangements with the concerned neighbouring countries in such cases. Protection of waterbirds, which migrate to and from India to a wider and non-boundary sharing set of countries would also require the establishment of appropriate instruments for joint action, he stressed.
The four-day meeting will discuss legislative and other institutional framework for facilitating conservation of migratory waterbirds, regulation of hunting and other disturbances, management and restoration of waterbird habitats, capacity building for monitoring and research and increasing awareness on the problems of migratory waterbirds.
AKS/rs
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