Noted conservationist and ornithologist Asad Rahmani’s latest book, Where Have the Birds Gone? Empty Nests. Quiet Skies. This sombre beginning sets the tone of his nuanced book.
One Question (Indian Pitta, an imprint of Juggernaut Books), is dedicated to lost species: “the mountain quail, pink-headed duck and numerous other species that were exterminated, with an apology from humankind”.
The book is full of more such dispiriting facts. But it isn’t all doom and gloom. Some of these solutions include expanding protected areas, conservation breeding, undergrounding power lines along major migratory routes and reducing free-ranging dog populations, states Rahmani, who firmly believes this. “If India truly aspires to be a Vishwaguru, a teacher to the world, then leadership must extend beyond economics and geopolitics. Through birds you explore myriad facets of wildlife, from global biodiversity threats to Earth’s sixth mass extinction and climate change and human-wildlife interaction. What makes birds an effective entry point? Another big reason why people like birds is that birdwatching is the second-most common (nature-related) hobby in the world, after gardening. That’s why we end up getting concerned about other things, too. Could you tell us more?
Because we want to bring nature back into our lives, even if we live in small homes, we put flowers on our balconies as a symbolic gesture. When we go birding, therefore, we aren’t just looking at birds, but at the whole environment. Because these birds don’t always live in protected areas, one thing that came up in this book was that Project Tiger, while certainly offering conservation benefits, wasn’t enough to save many of our threatened birds.
The book begins by focusing on 14 of India’s most threatened birds, including the white-bellied heron, green munia, the Bengal florican and Jerdon’s courser, evaluating the factors that threaten their existence. These include habitat loss and fragmentation, alien species, wind farms, power lines, dams, illegal pet trade, pesticides, poaching, glass buildings, and free-ranging stray dogs, which have become apex predators in many ecosystems, according to the 76-year-old. “In Ladakh, for instance, free-ranging dogs kill nearly 60 per cent of the chicks of the black-necked crane, a species listed by the IUCN as ‘vulnerable’ to extinction. For example, skylarks have declined by nearly 80% while Indian rollers have seen a 30% decline in 12 years; according to BirdLife International and the IUCN, 1,256 species — about 11.5% of all birds — are currently threatened with extinction, and fewer than 120 great Indian bustards persist, largely confined to two pockets in Rajasthan.
“In India, dogs are reported to have attacked 80 wild species, including 31 threatened species, four of which are critically endangered,” he writes, throwing in a sobering statistic. “I believe that I am an optimist (you cannot be a conservationist without being one),” he writes, citing success stories like the greater adjutant, painted stork, and spot-billed pelican, before offering conservation solutions rooted in “common sense rather than technological wizardry or cutting-edge science”. It must encompass sustainability, climate stability, environmental protection, equity, human rights and the rights of wildlife,” he says.
