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Conservation and Management of Wetland Birds in Rajasthan: Perspectives and Challenges

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Faunal Heritage of Rajasthan, India

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Abstract

The authors have presented challenges and strategies for wetland conservation in the state of Rajasthan. With only 10.4% area of India, Rajasthan harbours 42% of a total of 1,225 species of birds. Wetland avifauna is also very profound such that 40% of the country’s 325 wetland bird species were recorded during a survey of 47 major wetlands outside the protected areas of the state in 2002. Among these wetlands, 24 had one or more threatened bird species and four wetlands had three threatened species each. In all, 624 birds of six Endangered species and 7,713 birds of seven Near Threatened species were sighted. Prioritization of wetlands presented in the text categorizes wetlands as eight internationally important and qualified to be declared as Ramsar Sites, nine nationally important and the rest locally significant wetlands. Recently, 24 sites have been identified as Important Bird Areas (IBAs), including 10 wetlands, some of which are already protected. The loss of 31% wetlands has been alarming in a span of ten years in 13 districts of Rajasthan, which is expected to increase with the rapid pace of development and climate change. Economic value of wetlands has also been mentioned. Conservation threats, namely, habitat loss and degradation and contamination by pesticides and heavy metals, are also highlighted in this chapter. This chapter highlights the need for formulation of a National Wetland Conservation and Sustainable Use Strategy and Action Plan by bringing together the wetland authorities at national, state and village levels comprising members from among all the key stakeholders.

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Acknowledgements

Several people and institutions helped us in various ways throughout our study on the wetland ecosystem of Keoladeo National Park Bharatpur (1982–1991) and later on the inland wetlands of Rajasthan; the former was funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to the Bombay Natural History Society and the latter by UNDP through MoEF, Government of India, to Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) as a part of the project on inland wetlands of India. The Department of Space provided support for the satellite data analysis, and Narendra Prasad was the nodal person at SACON for coordinating the work. Mr. Manoj Kulshreshta coordinated the field data collection in the state through a network of people on behalf of the Bombay Natural History Society. We are grateful to the staff of SACON for their cooperation. We thank Narendra Prasad and M.A. Raja Mamannan for the preparation of the map. We acknowledge the support and input provided by several other people during this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Salim Ali Foundation, Ayyappankavu Road, Kanimangalam, Thrissur, Kerala, India

    Lalitha Vijayan & V. S. Vijayan

  2. Formerly, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), Anaikatti, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

    Lalitha Vijayan & V. S. Vijayan

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  1. Lalitha Vijayan
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  2. V. S. Vijayan
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Correspondence to Lalitha Vijayan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, RL Saharia Govt. PG College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    B.K. Sharma

  2. Department of Zoology, Government Shakambhar PG College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    Seema Kulshreshtha

  3. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

    Asad R Rahmani

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Vijayan, L., Vijayan, V.S. (2013). Conservation and Management of Wetland Birds in Rajasthan: Perspectives and Challenges. In: Sharma, B., Kulshreshtha, S., Rahmani, A. (eds) Faunal Heritage of Rajasthan, India. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01345-9_10

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