- India’s commitment to conservation is emphasized by its participation in key international conventions and initiatives, including:
- The Convention on Migratory Species
- The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
- CITES
- The Convention on Biological Diversity etc.
- A number of national initiatives support and expand on existing conservation laws, especially the Central Asian Flyway Action Plan, which specifically focus on migratory birds and their habitats.
- The notion of Important Bird Areas (IBA),now integrated into the concept of Key Biodiversity Areas, is a significant component of India’s conservation planning.
- The IBAs serve as conservation areas for protection of birds at the global, regional or sub-regional level. The IBAs contain a range of habitats, such as wetlands, mudflats, microhabitats in biodiversity hotspots, grasslands and scrublands.
- The Bombay Natural History Society and Birdlife International have identified 467 IBAs in India.
However, additional conservation needs include:
- Careful regulation and monitoring of environmental toxins,
- Management and conservation of key habitats that are under-represented in the Protected Area network (e.g. grasslands).
- Maximization of the conservation potential of multi-use landscapes.
- Expansion of monitoring efforts to track the abundance and ranges of species.
- Promotion of more research to understand the cascade of causes of population and range change,
- Creation of an enabling framework to respond rapidly to early warnings of decline.
- As birds are excellent indicators of the state of our natural world and potent cultural symbols of nature, this national-level assessment is a significant step in monitoring and conservation of India’s rich and varied biodiversity.
EBird
- It is a global online notebook for birdwatchers to maintain and share their bird lists as well as their bird photos and audio recordings.
- While eBird is based at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, USA, an India-specific portal is curated and customized by Bird Count India. Globally, eBird is the largest repository of biodiversity information.
