Submitted by
goodmand
on Tue, 04/20/2021 - 20:01
General Information
Resolution
49140
Period covered
Activities to implement this Resolution from Activity Reports
| Relevant operative para(s) of Res/Rec | Activities Overview | Description | Status | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Field activities | WESS has responded in 2022 Monsoon floods as a response to the climate crisis that has been bestowed upon us by helping in response and preparedness for the upcoming season. Moreover, WESS has implemented various projects of Urban resilience and WASH projects with provision of Food/non food items as well. | On-going | Full activity report | |
| Capacity building | Coordinated several training sessions for Gujarat Forest Department personnel. Resource persons from international agencies that have expertise in putting satellite tags on Great Bustards were held. Moreover, several virtual meetings were held to discuss the most appropriate quality and design of the bird diverters to be installed on the powerlines within GIB landscape in Gujarat and Rajasthan states of India. | Completed | Full activity report | |
| Convene stakeholders/Networking | TCF held several meetings with the local stakeholders (Gujarat Forest Department, Collector, Air Force Station at Naliya, Gram Panchayat Members, power companies and villagers) to discuss the issues such as grassland habitat restoration, organic farming in GIB landscape, stall-feeding of livestock and mitigating power lines through undergrounding and/or installing bird diverters. | On-going | Full activity report | |
| Education/Communication/Raising awareness | Raised awareness among the local communities and at the national level through media reports, school and community sensitisation programmes, wrote many popular articles at the regional and national media. | On-going | Full activity report | |
| Field activities | Development and restoration of 55-acre community grazing land in Kutch, Gujarat - Invasive species have been removed (uprooted) to develop the degraded land into a grassland. The indigenous and edible grass species suitable for bustards have been sowed. The work is being carried out by involving the local village community, and a model of controlled and rotational grazing is being practised. Other activities like stall-feeding of livestock and the development of grass seed-bank are also being done through active participation and ownership of the local community. The area is very much within the 'priority' habitat of Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican. 5 different predator-proof exclosures (~10 acres each) have been developed under this activity. The enthusiasm and commitment of villagers from Kanakpar are the strengths of this entire work. TCF team is currently evaluating the impact of this activity on local biodiversity. Organic Farming: With the funding support of The Habitats Trust, TCF worked with 10 farmers who cultivated groundnut in their privately owned agriculture fields without using chemical fertilizers or pesticides, in an organic way. ~6000 kg of yield was sold at a higher rate within a week of the harvesting. |
On-going | Full activity report | |
| Fundraising | TCF was successful in raising the following project grants for its GIB conservation work: 1. Strategic Partnership grant of The Habitats Trust for the conservation of Great Indian Bustard in Kutch, Gujarat 2. Developing a Great Indian Bustard conservation plan for the state of Maharashtra 3. Understanding the socio-economic dynamics of the local communities in and around the GIB habitat near Sam, Rajasthan |
On-going | Full activity report | |
| Policy influencing/advocacy | Filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India on the conservation of Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican, with a particular emphasis on mitigating the threats of power lines passing through bustard habitats in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. In April 2021, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India passed a landmark order to underground the power lines that pass through identified Great Indian Bustard (GIB) habitats in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The order came during the hearing of a PIL filed by Dr. M. K. Ranjitsinh, Piraram Bishnoi, Santosh Martin, Navinbhai Bapat and The Corbett Foundation. The petitioners have requested the Hon’ble Supreme Court to take necessary decisions for the conservation of GIB (and Lesser Florican) in the country. The power lines passing through the bustard habitat are a proven fatal threat to the GIB, and are also one of the prime reasons behind the steep decline in the GIB population in the past decade. To protect the species from such a threat, the petitioners have requested the underground placement of power lines in critical bustard habitats. In addition to this, habitat protection and its proper management, control over disturbance caused by free-ranging dogs, the conservation breeding programme of GIB, and a halt to any further development/expansion of wind farms and solar parks in the bustard habitat have also been requested. The Supreme Court has appointed a 3-member committee to monitor and instruct how and where to underground the high-voltage lines. Dr. Rahul Rawat, Scientist at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Sutirtha Dutta, Scientist at Wildlife Institute of India, and Dr. Devesh Gadhavi, Deputy Director of The Corbett Foundation, have been appointed as the Members of this Committee. | On-going | Full activity report | |
| Scientific/technical activities | 1. Collaborated with Gujarat Forest Department as the technical expert in putting satellite and GPS tags on Critically Endangered Lesser Florican (Sypheotides indicus), a resident and endemic bustard species, in Gujarat. In Sept 2020, a male and a female florican were fitted with solar-powered satellite tags. This was the first-ever tagging of a female lesser florican. A scientific paper has been published of this research in JBNHS that has highlighted the threat of power line collision in the case of lesser florican too. The tagged female, unfortunately, collided with a 33kv power line in Maharashtra on her return migratory journey from Telangana. The paper is available at https://doi.org/10.17087/jbnhs/2021/v118/167575 By the year 2022, total 12 Lesser Floricans have been tagged. 2. A collaborative study of The Corbett Foundation (TCF) and Wildlife Insititute of India says that not just the GIB but ~30,000 birds die annually due to powerline collision in Abdasa taluka of Kutch district, Gujarat. TCF has identified the powerlines responsible for the high mortality of different bird species. It was essential to reduce the bird mortality from these powerlines until they are undergrounded, as per the Hon'ble Supreme Court's order. With the valuable support of The Habitats Trust's Strategic Partnership Grant (THTSPG) - 2020, TCF has installed around 800 bird diverters on two powerlines. Total four types of diverters have been installed on 11 kV and 66 kV powerlines, passing through important bird habitats in Kutch, Gujarat. The method suggested by WII and international agencies have been followed for the scientific installation to make it more effective. TCF team is conducting a scientific study to check the impact of such bird diverters on the bird mortality. 3. TCF is working on mapping the 'revenue wastelands' suitable for Great Indian Bustard in the state of Maharashtra in collaboration with the Maharashtra Forest Department. The project work is still on. |
On-going | Full activity report |
Actors involved from Activity Reports
| IUCN Members | IUCN Commissions | IUCN Secretariat | Other non-IUCN related organisations |
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Challenges / lessons learned from Activity Reports
External link(s)
Report status
Published
I. IUCN Constituencies implementing this Resolution
IUCN Members
No other Members are/have been involved
IUCN Commissions
No IUCN Commissions involved
IUCN Secretariat
Yes
Other non-IUCN related organisations
Programme and Policy Committee (PPC) of the IUCN Council
II. Implementation
Activities carried out to implement this Resolution
Policy influencing/advocacy
Describe the results/achievements of the activities
Given its requests to the IUCN Council, the PPC has discussed this Resolution in its virtual and in-person meetings, and has assigned a focal point to form a Task Force to undertake the work requested in operative paragraph 4. The focal point has been in touch with the International Policy Centre (IPC) of the Secretariat, and have produced draft TORs, to be considered and adopted by the PPC at its next meeting.
Challenges/obstacles encountered in the implementation of this Resolution and measures taken
As of this writing, no challenges have been encountered. However, it is anticipated that resources will be a challenge, especially as relates to the ask in operative sub-paragraph 4b on undertaking a policy review of all active Resolutions and archived Resolutions that have established IUCN policy that remains active and in
force. This will be a substantial undertaking, and will either require a great deal of staff time from the IPC or the support of a consultant experienced in this kind of work.
force. This will be a substantial undertaking, and will either require a great deal of staff time from the IPC or the support of a consultant experienced in this kind of work.
Future actions / activities needed for the implementation of this Resolution
The Task Force TOR will need to be adopted by the PPC, after which it can coordinate with the IPC on exactly how to go about the asks in operative paragraph 4. Depending on the outcomes of those discussions, a review will be undertaken of all active Resolutions to recommend which should be archived, how they can be assembled or consolidated, and how such reviews should be managed in the future.
Are these actions/activities planned?
Yes
III. Status of implementation
Implementation status of this Resolution
Initiated: first stages of implementation