The Hindu : Other States / Rajasthan News : Threat to bird sanctuary underlined

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 25, 2004

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Other States - Rajasthan

Threat to bird sanctuary underlined

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, DEC. 24. A scientific seminar on the significance of the Keoladeo Ghana National Park as a wetland and bird habitat has stressed the need to ensure regular availability of water in the rare avian territory.

Held in the backdrop of serious water shortage in the Park, a world heritage site and Ramsar wetland, the participants at the seminar sought both immediate and long term steps to conserve the unique habitat, which used to be the only known migration ground for the rare Siberian cranes till recently.

The two-day seminar held at the Park premises from December 22 was chaired by the Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan, Arun Sen. The participants, who included experts on avi-fauna, aquatic ecology, terrestrial forestry, space mapping, zoology and botany related areas, felt that the poor availability of water to the Park over a period had made the Keoladeo marshes shrink.

The poor quality of the wetland habitat could be attributed to also the quantity of water available, timing of the water release and the presence of pesticides. The habitat degradation could lead to shift in the vegetation as well as formation of scrub lands, grasslands and even semi-arid patches, the experts noted.

The significance of Keoladeo Ghana, as a study by Dhirendra Devarshi and Reena Mathur, enumerated is in the presence of 76.82 per cent of the avifauna which is recorded in Rajasthan, there. As such Rajasthan--which is 10.4 per cent of India's total land area-- has a share of 40.52 per cent of the country's avifauna.

The concentration of the species could be gauged from the fact that so many species are available in an area which is only .0084 per cent of Rajasthan's geographical territory. As many as 66 species were found only in Keoladeo and nowhere else in Rajasthan. The Park has another 51 species which are reported only in one or two other places. It has full representation of some of the bird families and orders.

Of the total species available in Keoladeo Ghana, as many as 42.40 per cent are wetland birds. Many of he Park's unique birds are also wetland birds.

The experts were near unanimous that time was running out for Keoladeo Ghana, for release of water from the Panchana dam in Karauli district. The construction of dams, anicuts and gully plugs on the Gambhiri river had left the Park with no regular, assured source of water, they noted.

The absence of any long term policy for management of the Park, coupled with the neglect of the wildlife in the State's water policy and lack of coordination among various State departments, had aggravated the overall situation in the Park which was crying for immediate attention from the authorities both at the Centre and in the State, they said.

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Threat to bird sanctuary underlined