| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
