The coral reef wall at Hanging Garden, Sipadan, is colourful, popping with yellow crinoids, purple table corals and orange-and-white clownfish. But the scuba divers ignore it. Instead, they drift in the deep blue, away from the reef that plunges to a depth of 600 m.
Suddenly, they see them, a shiver of sharks with unmistakable hammer-like heads. And the divers whoop in celebration.
Every year between July and November, groups of magnificent Scalloped Hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini) swim through here and South Point, two dive sites south of this Sabah island. On average, the sharks are in groups of 40. It is a spine-tingling sight. No wonder the divers whoop.
Hammerheads are known to be migratory, but why they keep appearing here, where they come from, and where they are heading, remain puzzles to be solved.
Still, their regular aggregation here alone has put Sipadan on a new global conservation list. The list of Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) comprises critical habitats of sharks and their relatives, rays, and chimaeras.
Malaysia’s 10 ISRAs comprise the expected, such as the Coral Triangle islands and the surprising, such as Kuala Pahang. Explore them all in Macaranga’s interactive ISRA map.
“This compilation of information at the species level and considering science-based criteria is the first attempt to ‘put sharks on the map’,” says Dr Rima Jabado, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group. These fishes are going extinct fast, second in scale globally only to amphibians. The Group developed the ISRAs to try to halt the loss.
Though not yet 2 years old, the approach is already seeing results. “ISRAs are being considered in marine spatial planning,” says Jabado. “They are being prioritised for monitoring and enforcement of protected areas. Some areas have led to the protection of species nationally.”
And since April, Malaysia has been part of that list with its 10 ISRAs, including Sipadan. This is critical for Malaysian sharks and rays: scientists warn that too many are ending up in fishing nets and soup bowls, as well as on charcoal grills. But officially, Malaysia denies the existence of targeted shark fishing. Instead, the government considers sharks as bycatch, caught by accident.
Hence, it is crucial to identify the areas that endangered sharks and rays use.
“There is so little data, information, and research on sharks and rays in critical habitats in Malaysia,” says WWF-Malaysia’s Serena Adam. As a IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group member, Serena coordinated the Malaysian ISRA listings.
“I’m still surprised that all the 10 areas we proposed were approved. The ISRA criteria is very tight.” Nine proposed sites made it as ISRAs; the remaining one designated as an Area of Interest could be upgraded to an ISRA with more evidence.
The IUCN criteria are built on “the complex behaviours, ecology, and biological needs of sharks including species’ vulnerability, range restriction, key life-history activities, distinctiveness, and diversity”, according to the ISRA portal.
1) Whitetip Reef Sharks rest in groups safely in Sipadan. Photo: Sarah Ashton/Proposal Submission for ISRA listing of Sipadan, 2024
2) Grey Reef Sharks reproduce in Sipadan waters. Photo: Albert Kok/Wikimedia Commons
3) Sipadan is recognised for schools of Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks like these. Photo: Scubazoo.com.my
4) A sample of old dive log books with Sipadan entries. Photo: Sarah Irdina via Macaranga
The Sipadan ISRA, for one, meets several criteria. Vulnerable species visit the area for essential phases in their life history. The critically endangered Scalloped Hammerheads aggregate in Sipadan; the endangered Grey Reef Sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) reproduce there; and the vulnerable Whitetip Reef Sharks (Triaenodon obesus) breed and rest in groups there.
Meeting each criterion demands robust scientific evidence. Obviously, it will not do to hang about in the deep blue in Sipadan, willing Hammerheads to appear. But dive operator Scuba Junkie SEAS actually did something with these experiences.
Between 2010–2019, they kept a detailed logbook of species sightings by their dive masters and customers. Logging ensures better service by underwater tour guides, dive tourism being an important, lucrative industry.
In all, they logged a whopping 13,308 dives. This data helped Sipadan qualify as an ISRA.
Global Acknowledgement
“It is heartening to know that [Sipadan] now has formal recognition from world experts as a vitally important habitat for the shark species using it,” says Dr Catherine McCaan, a marine biologist who was conservation manager of the outfit then.
“So far, the bulk of this has come from simple sighting data in divers’ logbooks. Hopefully, with this formal recognition, more targeted research will be carried out that would lead to the development and implementation of a long-term monitoring strategy.”
(1) Shark scientists Serena Adam and Nicholas Tolen measure and tag a juvenile Blacktip Reef Shark captured at Chagar Hutang as part of a Mark and Recapture study. Photo: Faqih Akbar via Macaranga
(2) A newly tagged juvenile Blacktip Reef Shark is released at its initial capture site at Chagar Hutang, part of a Mark and Recapture study. Photo: Nicholas Tolen via Macaranga
(1) A BRUV device: (A) GoPro Hero 8 camera (B) weighted PVC frame (C) meter-long bait arm (D) 500 grams of oily fish bait, designed to attract juvenile Blacktip Reef Sharks into the camera’s field of view. Photo: Nicholas Tolen via Macaranga
(2) 10 juvenile Blacktip Reef Sharks are captured on camera in the Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) survey at Chagar Hutang. Photo: Nicholas Tolen via Macaranga
Citizen data like this was used as evidence for the listing of half the Malaysian ISRAs, says Serena. Social media was another important source of photos, videos and posts by divers, snorkellers, tour boat operators, and recreational anglers. The Malaysian team combed through hundreds of visuals and write-ups online to support their site proposals.
Why did they source data from the public?
To begin with, Serena says that too few scientists are working on sharks to produce enough data.
“But the main challenge was to fit what we had researched so far into the criteria,” says the shark and ray conservation officer. Scientists had mainly focused on fish landings in boats and at jetties. “So you know what is being caught but not where it is being caught.”
And even when scientists use underwater camera traps in specific locations to record sharks and rays, often, “we don’t have enough to tell exactly what they are doing there”.
Therefore, “we have to use complementary methods to find out what’s going on.”
(1) A neonate Scalloped Hammerhead is identified by its umbilical scar. Photo: Irsyad Pishal via Macaranga
(2) Scalloped Hammerheads are 45-50 cm long at birth, grow quickly and hang around coastal waters. Photo: Amanda Leong via Macaranga
(3) Mukah’s fishers shared their ecological knowledge of Scalloped Hammerheads and this helped this ISRA get listed. Photo: Muhammad Khairi Ismail IG via Macaranga
(4) Fishers’ catches are the main way to determine that a site is important for juvenile Scalloped Hammerheads. Photo: Mazidi Abd Ghani/WWF-Malaysia
In Mukah, Sarawak, coastal-marine researcher Dr Amy Then not only looked at shark and ray landings, she interviewed fishers who shared decades-long catch history and pinpointed exactly where they set their nets. This local ecological knowledge was what got Mukah designated as an important breeding site for Scalloped Hammerheads.
“For us to discover neonate sites – newborns – it’s really not common knowledge at all,” says the UM associate professor. “It’s only something that fishers who go in and out every day will know. Nobody dives in Mukah, so those things don’t get mapped.”
Science-Friendly Fishers
In Sabah, cooperating trawler fishers were what got East Tun Mustapha and Beluran ISRA status. Their respective delineation was based on images from cameras installed on trawlers by the Marine Research Foundation (MRF). The cameras took photos every 3 seconds, and using their GPS location and time stamps, scientists could map the ISRAs.
MRF conservation officer Ho Kooi Chee says, “Once [fishers] realised that we were keeping their identities and boat numbers anonymous, they gradually accepted the project and assisted in deploying the cameras.” They even spread the word among other fishers to allow cameras to be deployed.
Such buy-in from fishers might augur well for tighter conservation measures. Based on this evidence, MRF’s proposal to temporarily exclude fishing in East Tun Mustapha has been accepted by the Department of Fisheries Sabah, says Ho.
(1) Fishers allowed scientists to set up cameras on their trawlers to collect scientific data on their catches. Photo: Marine Research Foundation
(2) The cameras are GPS-linked and provided accurate location and time data for each catch. Photo: Marine Research Foundation
(3) The cameras confirm that East Tun Mustapha is an ISRA for critically endangered Bottlenose Wedgefish (Rhynchobatus australiae). Photo: Marine Research Foundation
(4) East Tun Mustapha is also an important site for Scalloped Hammerheads to reproduce. Photo: Marine Research Foundation
To aid in such decision-making is precisely the aim of ISRA listings.
“It will help highlight these areas’ importance,” agrees Izarenah Md Repin from the Department of Fisheries Malaysia fisheries conservation and protection division.
“And it can be a reference and strengthen justification for the government to potentially protect an area.”
She adds that ISRAs’ scientific basis and global recognition save the government time in identifying protected areas. Malaysia wants to double its marine protected areas (MPA) to 10%.
More Protection Needed
Only 6 ISRAs overlap with MPAs. East Tun Mustapha will need additional attention, says MRF’s Ho, as it is a transboundary area with the Philippines.
“Also, ISRAs in protected areas like Tioman strengthen and justify the importance of existing MPAs, and their effectiveness in protecting sharks and rays,” says Izarenah. The West Tioman ISRA recognises aggregations of the critically endangered Bottlenose Wedgefish (Rhynchobatus australiae).
While holding much promise, ISRA listings are just the beginning. To properly manage them, every scientist who contributed to the listings advocates continued research and long-term monitoring.
Si Amil, Sabah, met the ISRA criteria with proof that threatened Shorthorned Pygmy Devil Rays (Mobula kuhlii) aggregate regularly there, sometimes up to 100 individuals (Video from proposal submission for ISRA listing for Si Amil, 2024)
In Sipadan, the fact that no one knows why the Scalloped Hammerheads aggregate, means more studies need to be done, says McCaan, co-founder of the Sea Collective. “This information could in turn feed into conservation measures for the animal, which could have far-reaching implications worldwide.”
The overall challenge, says Then, is that “different areas have recognitions for different species, and different species also have very different biology.” She reckons that some habitats might be more critical than others, for example, for neonates and feeding.
Serena is hopeful that the listing will attract research funding. For both her and Then, the listing exercise has also been personally meaningful.
Purposeful Research
“As scientists collecting data, we want data not just to remain as data; we want it to translate into something useful,” says Then.
For Serena, working on ISRAs “is a turning point”. Future studies must answer several research objectives, she says, not just to determine species and population size.
“I would design our research to answer key criteria that’s needed for ISRA qualification such as predictable presence of species in the area, and what behaviour do they exhibit (ie. feeding, resting, courtship). Without these other aspects, you’re losing out information that is required to delineate – and better protect – an area.”
It looks like a mess but the dense, interlaced roots and branches of mangroves are what make them so mighty: a shield against the tides that would otherwise inundate the lands and drag shores back to the wider ocean. Living between sea and land, mangroves are called coastal forests. But in reality, they link and transition all the way inland to dryland forests. Or they did.
Mangrove forests along Malaysia’s coasts are being cut off from expanding landwards by roads, bunds, aquaculture, urbanisation, and landfills. Photo: Macaranga
In many parts of Malaysia, they no longer do. This makes coastal communities more vulnerable. And it is the birds that are signaling the loss of mangroves – with their absence.
No More Nuthatches
Take the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (Sitta frontalis). This blue beauty looks like it can defy gravity by walking down vertical tree trunks thanks to powerful curved claws. But this mangrove resident “has been pushed out from, for example, nearly all of the Selangor coast, by bunding and clearance of that vegetation zone,” says eminent ornithologist Dr David Wells.
The Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (Sitta frontalis) is absent in many mangroves in Selangor | Photo: Amar-Singh HSS via Macaranga
Of note is that the bird relies on what are called back mangroves. This is the landward section of the mangrove ecosystem where it transitions to non-mangrove forests. “In my estimation, back mangroves are critical to at least half of all mangrove-recorded birds. Their loss is out of all proportion to their relative area,” says Wells, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of birdlife in the region.
Generally, mangroves are not immediately associated with birds. But mangroves in Malaysia support at least 144 species of birds, both resident and migratory. In turn, birds help sustain the ecosystem.
These birds depend on mangroves as a habitat, a rich food source and a breeding ground, says the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) in its publication ‘Birds of rehabilitated mangrove sites in Selangor’. The dense branches and tangled roots of mangroves provide nesting sites, shelter from predators, and roosting areas for both resident and migratory birds. Mangroves teem with life. Fish, crabs, and insects thrive in the shallow waters and amongst tree roots, providing a plentiful food source for wading birds, herons, and fish eagles.
Additionally, mangrove trees themselves produce fruit and nectar that some bird species consume. The richer and more diverse a mangrove habitat, the richer and more diverse the birdlife. In turn, birds contribute to mangroves in a number of ways. This includes pollination, seed dispersal, pest control and providing nutrients via bird droppings. In Peninsular Malaysia, sunbirds are a major pollinator of the Bruguiera mangrove species, says avian ecologist Richard Noske.
Famously, coastal mangrove regions are “important staging and wintering sites for waterbirds,” says MNS. The north-central Selangor coast is recognised as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area and is located along the East-Asian-Australasian Flyway. This bird migratory route stretches from Russia all the way down to New Zealand. Specifically, mangroves are “much preferred by wintering shorebirds, herons, egrets and storks because of the strategic location that allows easy access to adjacent tidal mudflats as their foraging sites during low tide”.
But unlike mudflats and the seaward fringes of mangroves, the interiors of a mangrove ecosystem are shrouded in obscurity.
From the air, the extensive mangroves of Matang Mangroves are breathtaking (Video: Ahmad Aldrie Amir)
How Mangrove Zones Work
In Peninsular Malaysia’s largest mangrove forest, when one moves from land to water, “you can see the terrain is starting to change,” says mangrove ecologist Dr Ahmad Aldrie Amir. These are the Matang Mangroves in Perak. Stretching in a crescent, their almost 41,000 hectares of area have been protected and managed for 122 years.
The ecosystem is complex, but as the scientist points out, it is possible to roughly make out the succession of zones from the ‘true’ mangrove species seawards to the mixed dryland forest inland dominated by ‘associate’ mangrove species. The key is how much seawater reaches the various zones.
Facing the ocean and awash in 100% salty seawater are hardy species like Avicennia and Sonneratia. These trees are distinguished by their ‘pencil roots’, sticking vertically out of the sand and mud to breathe oxygen. They are called pioneer species because they ‘grow’ land by colonising new deposits of sediment.
Behind the seaward zone is the central zone, dominated by Rhizophora species. Inundated daily by seawater, their tangled web of aerial roots elevate the plants above the saltwater and allow them to ‘breathe’ even while their lower roots are submerged. Moving landward, Brugueira species with their buttresses and knee-shaped roots tend to dominate.
This zone melds into the back mangroves or landward zone, which is influenced by freshwater and is inundated only by the highest tides.
This is where the most diverse communities live, comprising mangrove and mangrove-associates plants. Among them are the Acrostichum, Acanthus, Excoecaria, and river-fringing Nypa fruticans. This zone is also richest in bird numbers and diversity, says ornithologist Wells.
Ideally, back mangroves would merge into dryland forest. However, in reality, their ecological succession is blocked by a slew of man-made impediments. These include roads and plantations, aquaculture farms and landfills, and factories and ports. Often, these fragment the very mangroves themselves.
And when mangroves are degraded or lost, society and the environment suffer. The consequences grow ever more severe as Malaysia’s sea levels are set to rise with climate change. Already, Malaysia has lost plenty of mangroves.
Many of Malaysia’s mangroves are actually legally protected: of its 586,548 ha, 93.74% are inside permanent reserved forests, and state and national parks. But Malaysia has been losing its mangroves steadily since 1990, according to the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) in its upcoming 2024 report on the status of mangroves shared with Macaranga.
While loss can also result naturally, FRIM states that the most loss is caused by development outside protected areas, on state lands. The biggest loss of mangroves took place in the last 6 years, since 2017.
Mangrove areas decreased by 46,853 ha, almost twice the size of Kuala Lumpur. Of this, a massive 73% (34,379 ha) happened in Sabah, and the rest in Sarawak (12,474 ha).
Measured in terms of loss per year, Sabah lost about 19 times more mangroves than in the previous 27 years, and Sarawak, at least 8 times more. Both these regions are home to the most mangroves in the country – Sabah around 22% and Sarawak 59%.
Interestingly, Peninsular Malaysia actually gained 4,364 ha of mangroves, more than making up for the mangroves it lost between 2000 – 2017. The losses and gains differed across states, but most states saw mangrove areas grow. Still, the earlier mangrove loss is evident. Driving from Penang to Selangor, outside of the protected areas, Macaranga found most mangrove forests little more than strips fenced by infrastructure and agriculture.
When agriculture is developed behind mangroves, bunds are typically built to shield plots from tidal flooding. To protect the bunds from eroding, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage has a policy to maintain a strip of mangroves between the bunds and the sea. But the bunds cause the mangroves themselves to erode.
Still, even in these mangrove strips, there is enough avifauna to draw bird-watchers and photographers.
South of Matang in Bagan Datuk are the popular Beting Beras Basah jetty and Kampung Sungai Tiang. To get there, bird-watchers must drive through long stretches of oil palm plantations.
North at the bird sanctuary of Kuala Gula, they must pass aquaculture ponds that ring the mangroves. Here, the forest fringes the coastline, but only roughly 50m wide. A road around the ponds cuts through the back mangroves, fragmenting the habitat. Even further north in Penang, the mangroves of the once-aptly named Pulau Burung draws bird-watchers. This is despite its back mangroves having been replaced by a mountainous 16 ha landfill. Flood researcher Edlic Sathiamurthy says “during heavy rain, the leachate pond can overflow,” bringing toxic leachate into the mangroves and ocean. He personally observed this in 2017.
The critical point about cutting off mangroves from expanding landwards is that it throttles the health of mangroves, and their superpower to protect coasts and inland areas. Mangroves can gradually expand landmass from soil or sand deposits caused by the movement of water. Their dense root systems trap sediments carried by tides and rivers, gradually building soil. But mangroves need room to perform their ecological functions effectively, says Dr Chee Su Yin who researches coastal ecosystem conservation.
“If the sea level rises, they can move backwards. And if they have enough soil they can also move (forwards) towards the sea.” By this logic, mangrove areas should be protected to allow them to grow both seaward and landward. This has big implications as Malaysia’s sea levels are set to rise with climate change.
“But mangroves can only grow backwards if there is space,” points out Chee. How much space exactly? Ideally, as much space as possible. In reality though, she notes that the buffer zone is usually a mere 100 m. “This area (back mangroves) is always a tussle between developers and profit-makers and conservationists. One hundred meters is actually not enough. For me, I would advocate for at least 200 m to half a kilometer.”
But she concedes that “space is very precious. If you’re in the developers’ camp, then you want to use this space to develop. There’s a lot of money involved.
That’s where the difficulty of conserving mangroves is. It’s always been the developers and conservationists. Whether it’s mangroves or coral reefs, this is always the issue. –Dr Chee Su Yin
Birds as Red Flags
Without space for back mangrove expansion and the forest’s ability to host all its various zones, birds are at risk. Macaranga compared bird diversity and numbers at 2 sites in Perak 100 km apart, using the citizen birdwatching global database, eBird at Cornell University.
The Matang Mangrove Forest with its healthy forest complete with back mangroves has considerably more different bird species than Bagan Datuk, which only has a sea-front mangrove fringe (see table). In terms of resident bird species spotted, Matang has 96, more than double the 45 species in Bagan Datuk.
Narrowing it down to birds that live predominantly in mangrove habitats, Matang still has one-and-a-half times more different bird species than Bagan Datuk (mouse over the photos in the gallery below; tap on mobile). In 2022—2023, the majority of resident birds are more commonly seen and in larger numbers at Matang with its extensive back mangroves.
Unfortunately, in the thinner mangroves of Bagan Datuk, species such as the Mangrove Pitta Pitta megarhyncha, Mangrove Whistler Pachycephala cinerea have not been recorded in recent years; the birds were absent in both the 2024 eBird database and the 2018 MNS surveys.
Avian ecologist Noske, in his study of mangrove forest birds in Peninsular Malaysia, noted that birds like the Mangrove Blue Flycatcher have a “preference for dense forests with low light levels”. Hence its absence where the forest has ‘gaps’ or is sparse.
Ensuring the existence of birds in mangroves can actually help mangrove conservation – through ecotourism. Mangrove forests are under-appreciated as ecotourism sites. In recent decades firefly watching, for one, has grown. The top firefly-watching site in Malaysia, Sungai Klias in Sabah, draws 100,400 tourists annually. MNS in 2018 estimated that the economic value of the Teluk Air Tawar-Kula Muda coastal mangrove region at USD6 million per annum (RM28 million); USD760,000 (RM3.5 million) from nature-based tourism.
Drawing bird-waters and photographers can further boost the case for mangrove conservation. In Sabah, which saw the biggest mangrove loss in the last 6 years, 35% of tourists visited for ecotourism, including bird-watching in pre-pandemic 2019. The year before that, the state earned RM8.3 billion from 3.9 million tourists in tourism revenue. The Sabah Tourism Board also recognises bird watching as a niche market in tourism.
For ecotourism to thrive in mangrove forests, so must birdlife. And birds need healthy multi-zone mangroves.
At Mangrove Point, Selangor, seedlings are planted landward-facing and their growth monitored. Photo: Selangor Maritime Gateway via Macaranga
Symbiotic Conservation
To boost mangrove’s land building capacity, restoring is a key activity in Malaysia. “Replanting really started after the tsunami in 2004,” says mangrove researcher Aldrie. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 struck the coasts of several South and Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia. The disaster killed at least 225,000, of whom at least 68 were in Malaysia.
Recognising the role mangroves played in mitigating the tsunami, Malaysia started the Programme for the Planting of Mangrove and Other Suitable Tree Species Along the National Coastline. From 2005 to 2022, 7.2 million seedlings were planted along coastlines, covering 3,278 hectares.
“The government and companies have a lot of money and they want to do replanting,” says Aldrie. But oftentimes, they do not engage with the scientific community and local communities. The result is ineffective or failed replantings. “They plant the wrong species and [on] the wrong site,” says the scientist. “You plant thousands of seedlings, and it’s washed away the next day.”
The idea is to establish an ecosystem. “We want to reforest, not just replant. Actually, if you let mangroves thrive naturally, they can regrow by themselves.”
Chee, the coastal conservationist, shares the same sentiment. She shares a powerful example of how Penang’s Gurney Drive reclamation had a “happy side effect”. While the developers were piling on sand to reclaim land, it created the perfect environment for mangroves to regenerate.
“It was muddy, sheltered,” she says. “The waves couldn’t get in but the seawater could. So because there was this really ideal situation in where the salinity was right, and there were these bunds stopping the waves from coming in. “And [in the] little space that the mangroves used to be, the propagules started to migrate. In 6 months, you can see that mangroves from a small area [spread] about 200 m down the Gurney Drive coastline. I thought this was really fast. Based on this observation, as long as the conditions are correct, then they can grow at a very fast pace.”
MNS also says that mangrove birds return to well-rehabilitated mangroves, calling their presence “an important indicator”. As elsewhere in the world, Malaysia’s mangroves are under tremendous pressure from competing uses, from agriculture to infrastructure. But what it takes for mangroves to support birdlife is what it takes to ensure they are healthy.
If healthy back mangroves are restored, Velvet-fronted Nuthatches might return to Selangor’s mangroves; Photo: Amar-Singh-HSS via Macaranga
This means having a mix of zones and enough space inland to undergo ecological succession to dryland forest, especially for the forest to survive as climate change raises sea levels. Chee says the discussion between scientists and policymakers is to allow these coastal forests room to migrate landwards; this means ensuring infrastructure like highways are not built too closely.
Ornithologist Wells was particularly worried about how the loss of back mangroves in Selangor had already led to a drop in bird diversity. The good news is that mangrove area has seen a net increase in the states featured in this article: Selangor (21 ha), as well as in Perak (58 ha) and Penang (124 ha) (see graph above).
At Bagan Datoh, Perak, both MNS and FRIM are working to conserve and enrich the remaining mangroves, working with local communities and developing ecotourism, including establishing an on-site mangrove germplasm facility.
All these would certainly augur well for the Velvet Fronted Nuthatch. This blue tree hopper has not actually disappeared from Selangor, as it has been spotted in other forest types. But perhaps one day, if Selangor’s mangroves – and especially its back mangroves – revive, the bird could actually return to its favourite habitat.
Brown feathers speckled with white are scattered in the short grasses.
Searching keenly, Radheshyam Bishnoi circles the area in the fading light. He is hoping he is wrong. “These feathers don’t look plucked,” he says aloud. Then he makes a call, “Are you coming? I think I’m quite sure…,” he tells the person on the line.
Above us, like an omen in the sky, the 220-kilovolt high tension (HT) cables hum and crackle – now black lines silhouetted against the darkening evening sky.
Remembering his duty as a collector of data, the 27-year-old pulls out his camera and takes a series of close-up and mid-shots of the scene of the crime.
The next day, early in morning we are back on site – a kilometre from hamlet Ganga Ram ki Dhani, near Khetolai in Jaisalmer district.
This time there is no doubt. The feathers belong to the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), known locally as the godawan.
(Left) WII researcher, M.U. Mohibuddin and local naturalist, Radheshyam Bishnoi, at the site on March 23, 2023 documenting the death of a Great Indian Bustard (GIB) after it collided with high tension power lines. (Right) Radheshyam (standing) and local Mangilal watch Dr. S. S. Rathode, WII veterinarian (wearing a cap) examine the feathers. Photos: Urja/PARI
Dr. Shravan Singh Rathore, a wildlife veterinarian is at the site on the morning of March 23, 2023. He says, on examining the evidence: “The death is due to collision with the HT wires, there is no doubt. It appears to have taken place three days prior to today, so on March 20 [2023].”
This is the fourth body of a GIB that Dr. Rathore, who works with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), has examined since 2020. The WII is the technical arm of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and state wildlife departments. “All the carcasses were found under HT wires. The direct link between the wires and these unfortunate deaths is clear,” he adds.
The dead bird is the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps). And it’s the second one in just five months to crash and fall to its death after colliding with high tension wires. “This is the ninth death since 2017 [the year he began tracking],” says Radheshyam, a farmer from nearby village Dholiya in Sankra block of Jaisalmer district. An ardent naturalist, he keeps an eye out for the big bird. “Most of the godawan deaths have been right under HT wires,” he too adds.
The GIB is listed under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 . Once seen in the grasslands of Pakistan and India, today there are totally only around 120-150 birds in the wild in the world, and their population is fragmented across five states. Around 8-10 birds have been sighted at the intersection of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana, and four females in Gujarat.
The maximum number are right here in Jaisalmer district. “There are two populations – one near Pokaran and one in the Desert National Park – roughly 100 kilometres apart,” says Dr. Sumit Dookia, wildlife biologist who has been tracking these birds in their habitat – the grasslands of western Rajasthan.
(Left) Today there are totally only around 120-150 Great Indian Bustards in the world and most live in Jaisalmer district. (Right) ‘We have lost GIB in almost all areas. There has not been any significant habitat restoration and conservation initiative by the government,’ says Dr. Sumit Dookia. Photos: Radheshyam Bishnoi/PARI
Mincing no words he says, “We have lost GIB in almost all areas. There has not been any major significant habitat restoration and conservation initiative from the government.” Dookia is honorary scientific advisor at Ecology, Rural Development & Sustainability (ERDS) Foundation – an organisation that has been working in the area since 2015 to build community participation for saving the GIB.
“In my own lifetime I have seen these birds in flocks in the sky. Now I see the single bird, occasionally and rarely in flight,” points out Sumer Singh Bhati. In his forties, Sumer Singh is a local environmentalist and actively working to save the bustard and its habitat in the sacred groves of Jaisalmer district.
He lives in Sanwata village in Sam block, an hour away, but the death of the godawan has brought him and other concerned locals and scientists rushing to the site.
About a 100 metres from the Degray Mata Mandir near Rasla village sits a life-size godawan made of plaster-of-paris. It can be seen from the highway – alone atop a platform inside a roped enclosure.
Locals have installed it as a mark of protest. “It was on the first death anniversary of the GIB that died here,” they tell us. The plaque written in Hindi translates to: ‘Near Degray Mata mandir on 16 September 2020, a female godawan collided with high tension lines. In its memory this monument has been built.’
(Left) Radheshyam pointing at the high tension wires near Dholiya that caused the death of a GIB in 2019. (Right) Sumer Singh Bhati in his village Sanwata in Jaisalmer district. Photos: Urja/PARI
(Left) Posters of the godawan (bustard) are pasted along with those of gods in a Bishnoi home. (Right) The statue of a godawan installed by people of Degray. Photos: Urja/PARI
For Sumer Singh, Radheshyam and other locals of Jaisalmer, the dying godawans and their loss of habitat is grimly symbolic of the lack of agency that their pastoral communities have over their surroundings, and the subsequent loss of pastoral lives and livelihoods.
“We are losing so much in the name of ‘development’,” says Sumer Singh. “And who is this development for?” He has a point – there is a solar farm 100 metres away, power lines run overhead, but electricity supply in his village is fitful, inconstant, and unreliable.
India’s RE capacity jumped 286 per cent in the last 7.5 years, proclaims the central Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. And in the last decade but more so in the last 3-4 years, thousands of renewable energy plants – both solar and wind – have been commissioned in this state. Among others, Adani Renewable Energy Park Rajasthan Ltd (AREPRL) is developing a 500 MW capacity solar park in Bhadla, Jodhpur and 1,500 MW capacity solar park in Fatehgarh, Jaisalmer. An inquiry via the website sent to the company asking if they are moving any lines underground, has not been answered at the time of this story being published.
The energy produced by solar and wind farms in the state is sent on to the national grid with the help of a huge network of power lines that act as a barrier in the flight path of bustards, eagles, vultures and other avian species. The RE projects will lead to a green corridor that passes through the GIB habitats of Pokhran and Ramgarh-Jaisalmer.
Solar and wind energy projects are taking up grasslands and commons here in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan. For the local people, there is anger and despair at the lack of agency over their surroundings and the subsequent loss of pastoral lives and livelihoods. Photo: Radheshyam Bishnoi/PARI
Jaisalmer lies in the critical Central Asian Flyway (CAF) – the annual route taken by birds migrating from the Arctic to Indian Ocean, via central Europe and Asia. An estimated 279 populations of 182 migratory waterbird species come through this route, says the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. Some of the other birds are the endangered Oriental White-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Long-billed (Gyps indicus) , Stoliczka’s Bushchat (Saxicola macrorhyncha) , Green Munia (Amandava formosa) and MacQueen’s or Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis maqueeni) .
Radheshyam is also an avid photographer and his long focus tele lens has thrown up disturbing images. “I have seen pelicans landing on a field of solar panels at night because they think it’s a lake. The hapless bird then slips on the glass and its delicate legs are irreversibly injured.”
Powerlines are killing not just bustards, but a staggering estimated 84,000 birds a year within a 4,200 square kilometre area in and around the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer, says a 2018 study by the Wildlife Institute of India. “Such high mortality rate [of the bustard] is unsustainable for the species and a sure cause of extinction.”
The danger is not just in the sky but on the ground – large areas of grassland commons, sacred groves or orans as they are referred to here, are now dotted with whirling 200-metre-tall windmills placed at 500 metre intervals, and hectare upon hectares of walled enclosures for solar farms. The intrusion of renewable energy into sacred groves where all communities insist even a branch cannot be cut, has turned grazing into a game of snakes and ladders – pastoralists can no longer tread a direct path, but instead must go round fences and dodge windmills and their attendant microgrids.
(Left) The remains of a dead griffon vulture in Bhadariya near a microgrid and windmill. (Right) Radheshyam tracks godawans to help keep them safe. Photos: Vikram Darji/PARI
“If I leave in the morning, I get home only by evening,” says Dhanee (she uses only this name). The 25-year-old must go into the forest to bring grass for her four cows and five goats. “I get a shock from the wires sometimes when I take my animals into the forest.” Dhanee’s husband is studying in Barmer town, and she manages their six bigha (roughly 1 acre) of land and their three boys aged 8, 5 and 4 years.
“We have tried to raise questions with our MLA and the District Commissioner (DC), but nothing has happened,” says Murid Khan, Gram Pradhan of Degray in Rasla village of Sam block in Jaisalmer.
“Six to seven lines of high-tension cables have been installed in our panchayat,” he points out. “It is in our orans [sacred groves]. When we ask them, ‘bhai who has given you permission’, they say ‘we don’t need your permission’.”
On March 27, 2023, days after the incident, in a question asked in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that important GIB habitats would be designated into national parks (NPs).
Of the two habitats, one is already designated a NP and the other is defence land, but bustards are not safe.
On April 19, 2021, in response to a writ petition, the Supreme Court ruled that, “in the priority and potential bustard area, where it is found feasible to convert the overhead cables into underground powerlines the same shall be undertaken and completed within a period of one year, and till such time diverters [plastic discs that reflect light and warn off birds] shall be hung from the existing powerlines.”
The SC judgement lists 104 km of lines to go underground, and 1,238 km of lines to have diverters in Rajasthan.
“Why is the government allowing such big-sized renewable energy parks in GIB habitat when transmission lines are killing birds,” asks wildlife biologist, Sumit Dookia. Photos: Urja/PARI
Two years later – April 2023 – the SC’s ruling to send lines underground has been completely ignored and plastic diverters affixed on only a few kms – in areas where it gets public and media attention near major roads. “As per available research, bird diverters reduce collision to a great extent. So theoretically, this death could have been averted,” says wildlife biologist, Dookia.
The native bustard is at risk in what is their only home on this planet. Meanwhile we have rushed to make a home for a foreign species – a majestic five-year plan to spend Rs. 224 crore on bringing African cheetahs to India. The outlay covers flying them in special aircrafts, building secure enclosures, hi-quality cameras, and observation watchtowers. Then there is the tiger whose population is increasing and its budgetary allocation stands at a generous Rs.300 cr in 2022.
An imposing member of the avian species, the Great Indian Bustard stands a metre tall and weighs around 5-10 kilograms. It lays only one egg a year, and in the open. The increasing population of feral dogs in the area has put bustard eggs at risk. “The situation is grim. We need to find ways to sustain this population and leave some [inviolate] area for this species,” says Neelkanth Bodha, Programme Officer with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) that runs a project in the area.
A terrestrial species, it prefers to walk. When it does fly, it’s a majestic sight – its wingspan of around 4.5 feet holding up the heavy body as it glides through the desert skies.
(Left) ‘The godawan doesn’t harm anyone. In fact, it eats small snakes, scorpions, small lizards and is beneficial for farmers,” says Radheshyam (Right) Not only is the Great Indian Bustard at risk, but so are the scores of other birds that come through Jaisalmer which lies on the critical Central Asian Flyway (CAF) – the annual route taken by birds migrating from the Arctic to Indian Ocean. Photos: Radheshyam Bishnoi/PARI
The mighty bustard has eyes on the side of its head, and it cannot see dead ahead. So, it either hits the high-tension wire in a head-on collision or tries to swerve at the last minute. But like a trailer truck that can’t take sharp turns, the GIB’s sudden change of direction is often too late, and some part of its wing or head slams into the wires situated at heights of 30 metres and above. “If the electric shock on encountering the wires don’t kill it, the fall usually does,” says Radheshayam.
In 2022, when locusts entered India through Rajasthan, “it was the presence of the godawan that saved some fields as they ate up locusts in thousands,” recalls Radheshyam. “Godawan doesn’t harm anyone. In fact, it eats small snakes, scorpions, small lizards and is beneficial for farmers,” he adds.
He and his family own 80 bighas (roughly 8 acres) of land on which they grow guar and bajra, and sometimes a third crop if there is winter rain. “Imagine if there were not 150 GIB, but in thousands, such a serious calamity like locusts’ invasion would be reduced,” he adds.
To save the GIB and ensure its habitat is undisturbed requires attention to a relatively small area. “We can make that effort. It’s not such a big deal to do. And there is a court order to send lines underground and not give permission for any more lines,” says Rathore. “Now the government should really stop and think before it’s all over.”
छोटे घासों के बीच सफ़ेद धब्बों वाले भूरे पंख यहां-वहां बिखरे पड़े हैं.
गौर से देखते हुए राधेश्याम बिश्नोई ढलती हुई रौशनी में उस क्षेत्र का चक्कर लगाते हैं. वह उम्मीद करते हैं कि वह ग़लत साबित होंगे. वह अपेक्षाकृत ऊंची आवाज़ में कहते हैं, “ये पंख तोड़े हुए नहीं लगते हैं.” फिर वह किसी को फ़ोन लगाते हैं, “आप आ रहे है? देखकर तो मुझे ऐसा ही लगता है…,” वह लाइन पर जुड़े दूसरे आदमी से कहते हैं.
हमारे माथे के ऊपर आसमान में एक अपशकुन की तरह 220-किलोवाट हाईटेंशन (एचटी) तारों से चटखने और गूंजने की लगातार आवाज़ें आ रही हैं. शाम के गहराते अंधेरे में ये तार काली लकीरों की तरह दिखते हैं.
डेटा-संग्राहक के रूप में अपनी ज़िम्मेदारियों को याद रखते हुए 27 साल के बिश्नोई अपना कैमरा बाहर निकालते हैं और क़रीब से व मध्यम दूरी से ‘अपराध-स्थल’ की बहुत सी तस्वीरें लेते हैं.
अगली सुबह हम पौ फटते ही दोबारा घटना-स्थल पर पहुंचते हैं, जो जैसलमेर ज़िले में खेतोलाई के नज़दीक की छोटी सी बस्ती, गंगाराम की ढाणी से बस एक किलोमीटर की दूरी पर है.
इस बार हमें इस निष्कर्ष पर पहुंचने में कोई दुविधा नहीं होती है कि ये पंख ग्रेट इंडियन बस्टर्ड (जीआइबी) के ही हैं, जिसे स्थानीय लोग गोडावण कहते हैं.
(1) डब्लूआईआई शोधकर्ता एम. यू. मोहिबुद्दीन और स्थानीय प्रकृतिविद राधेश्याम बिश्नोई 23 मार्च को घटना स्थल पर ग्रेट इंडियन बस्टर्ड की हाई टेंशन बिजली के तारों से टकराने के बाद हुई मौत से संबंधित जानकारी इकट्ठा कर रहे हैं. तस्वीर: ऊर्जा/PARI
(2) राधेश्याम (खड़े हैं) और स्थानीय निवासी मांगीलाल, वन्यपशु पशु चिकित्सक डॉ. एस.एस. राठोड़ (टोपी लगाए हुए) को पंखों की जांच करते देख रहे हैं. तस्वीर: प्रीती डेविड/PARI
वन्यपशु चिकित्सक डॉ. श्रवण सिंह राठोड़ भी 23 मार्च, 2023 की सुबह घटना स्थल पर मौजूद हैं. साक्ष्यों पर नज़र दौड़ाते हुए वह कहते हैं: “कोई शक नहीं है कि मौत हाई टेंशन तार से टकराने की वजह से हुई है. ऐसा लगता है कि यह आज से तीन दिन पहले की घटना है, यानी 20 मार्च [2023] को घटी घटना लगती है.”
साल 2020 से लेकर अब तक यह चौथा मृत पंछी है जिसकी जांच भारतीय वन्यजीव संस्थान (डब्लूआईआई) में कार्यरत डॉ. राठोड़ कर रहे हैं. डब्लूआईआई पर्यावरण, वन और जलवायु परिवर्तन मंत्रालय (एमओईएफ़सीसी) और राज्य वन्यजीवन विभाग की एक तकनीकी शाखा है. डॉ. राठोड़ आगे कहते हैं, “सभी मृत गोडावण हाईटेंशन तारों के नीचे पड़े मिले हैं. इन तारों और इन दुर्भाग्यशाली मौतों के बीच सीधा संबंध एकदम साफ़ है.”
यह मृत पक्षी विलुप्ति के गंभीर संकट को झेलता ग्रेट इंडियन बस्टर्ड (आर्डीयोटिस नाइग्रिसेप्स) है. पांच महीने के अन्तराल में यह दूसरी बार हुआ है कि हाई टेंशन तारों से टकराने से इनकी मौत हुई है. राधेश्याम बताते हैं, “साल 2017 [इन पक्षियों पर जब से वह नज़र रखे हैं] से मौत की यह नौवीं घटना है.” वह पड़ोस के ढोलिया में रहते हैं, जो जैसलमेर ज़िले के सांकड़ा ब्लॉक का एक छोटा सा गांव है. एक सच्चे प्रकृतिप्रेमी होने के कारण वह इन विलुप्त होते पक्षियों पर कड़ी नज़र रखते हैं. उनका भी यही कहना है, “अधिकतर गोडावणों की मौत हाई टेंशन के तारों के नीचे हुई है.“
गोडावण को वन्यजीव (संरक्षण) अधिनियम 1972 की अनुसूची-1 में शामिल किया गया है. कभी भारत और पाकिस्तान के मैदानी इलाक़ों में पाए जाने वाले ये दुर्लभ पक्षी आज पूरी दुनिया में केवल 120-150 की तादाद में जीवित हैं और भारत के केवल पांच राज्यों में ही देखे जा सकते हैं. लगभग 8 से 10 पक्षी कर्नाटक, महाराष्ट्र और तेलंगाना के परस्पर सीमावर्ती क्षेत्रों में और चार मादाएं गुजरात में देखी गई हैं.
इनकी सबसे अधिक संख्या जैसलमेर ज़िले में है. पश्चिम राजस्थान के घास वाले मैदानों में इनके प्राकृतिक आवासों में पक्षियों पर निगरानी रखने वाले वन्यजीव जैव वैज्ञानिक डॉ. सुमित डूकिया कहते हैं, “इनकी दो आबादियां हैं – एक पोकरण के निकट, और एक लगभग 100 किलोमीटर की दूरी पर डेजर्ट [मरुस्थल] नेशनल पार्क में.”
(1) आज दुनिया में कुल मिलाकर लगभग 120-150 गोडावण बचे हैं और उनमें से ज़्यादातर जैसलमेर ज़िले में हैं. तस्वीर: राधेश्याम बिश्नोई/PARI
(2) डॉ. सुमित डूकिया बताते हैं, ‘हमने लगभग सभी इलाक़ों में ग्रेट इंडियन बस्टर्ड को खोया है. उनके प्राकृतिक आवासों को दोबारा उनके अनुकूल बनाने और उनके संरक्षण के लिए सरकार की तरफ़ से अभी तक कोई ठोस पहल नहीं की गई है’. तस्वीर: राधेश्याम बिश्नोई/PARI
बिना किसी लाग-लपेट के वह कहते हैं, “हमने लगभग सभी इलाक़ों में ग्रेट इंडियन बस्टर्ड को खोया है. उनके प्राकृतिक आवासों को दोबारा उनके अनुकूल बनाने और उनके संरक्षण के लिए सरकार की तरफ़ से अभी तक कोई ठोस पहल नहीं की गई है.” डूकिया इकोलॉजी, रूरल डेवलपमेंट एंड सस्टेनिबिलिटी (ईआरडीएस) फाउंडेशन के अवैतनिक वैज्ञानिक सलाहकार हैं. यह संगठन गोडावणों के संरक्षण में सामुदायिक भागीदारी के निर्माण की दिशा में 2015 से सक्रिय है.
सुमेर सिंह भाटी बताते हैं, “अपने इसी जीवन में मैंने इन पक्षियों को झुंडों में आकाश में उड़ते हुए देखा है. अब मुझे कभी-कभार आसमान में कोई अकेला गोडावण उड़ता हुआ दिखाई देता है.” चालीस के आसपास की उम्र के सुमेर सिंह स्थानीय पर्यावरणविद हैं और जैसलमेर ज़िले की घनी झुरमुटों में बस्टर्ड और उसके प्राकृतिक आवास को बचाने में काम में पूरी तरह से समर्पित हैं.
हालाँकि सम ब्लॉक के संवत गांव में रहते हैं जहां जाने में एक घंटे का समय लगता है लेकिन गोडावण की मौत की ख़बर ने उन्हें और उनकी तरह इस पक्षी के भविष्य को लेकर चिंतित दूसरे स्थानीय लोगों और वैज्ञानिकों को घटना स्थल पर पहुंचने के लिए विवश कर दिया है.
रासला गांव के क़रीब देगराय माता मंदिर से लगभग 100 मीटर की दूरी पर प्लास्टर ऑफ़ पेरिस की बनी गोडावण की एक आदमकद मूर्ति है, जो हाईवे से ही नज़र आती है – एक चबूतरे पर रस्सी के घेरे के बीच एक अकेली मूर्ति.
स्थानीय लोगों ने इस मूर्ति को अपना विरोध प्रकट करने के उद्देश्य से स्थापित किया है. गांव के लोग बताते हैं, “इस मूर्ति को इसी स्थान पर मरे एक गोडावण की मृत्यु के एक साल पूरे होने के दिन स्थापित किया गया था.” स्मृति-पट्टिका पर लिखा है: “16 सितंबर 2020 को यहां देगराय माता मंदिर के पास हाईटेंशन तारों से टकरा कर एक मादा गोडावण की मौत हुई. यह स्मारक उसी पक्षी की स्मृति में बनाया गया है.”
(1) राधेश्याम हाईटेंशन तारों को दिखाते हुए, जिसके कारण 2019 में एक बस्टर्ड की मौत हो गई. तस्वीर: ऊर्जा/PARI
(2) जैसलमेर ज़िले में अपने गांव सांवता में सुमेर सिंह भाटी. तस्वीर: ऊर्जा/PARI
(1) बिश्नोई समुदाय के एक घर में देवताओं के चित्रों के बगल में चिपकाए गए गोडावण के पोस्टर. तस्वीर: ऊर्जा/PARI
(2) देगराय के स्थानीय ग्रामीणों द्वारा स्थापित गोडावण की मूर्ति. तस्वीर: ऊर्जा/PARI
सुमेर सिंह, राधेश्याम और जैसलमेर के अन्य स्थानीय लोगों के लिए गोडावणों की मौतें और उनके प्राकृतिक आवास के प्रति संवेदनहीनता, आसपास के ग्राम्य समुदायों और उनकी आजीविका के प्रति एक तरह की प्रतीकात्मक उपेक्षा है.
सुमेर सिंह कहते हैं, “विकास के नाम पर हम न जाने कितनी चीज़ें खोते जा रहे हैं. और यह विकास आख़िर किसके लिए है?” उनकी बात में दम है. यहां से क़रीब 100 मीटर की दूरी पर ही एक सौर ऊर्जा संयंत्र है, और लोगों के माथे के ऊपर से बिजली के तार गुज़रते हैं. लेकिन इस गांव में बिजली की आपूर्ति बहुत कम, अनियमित और भरोसेमंद नहीं है.
पिछले 7.5 सालों में भारत की अक्षय ऊर्जा की क्षमता में 286 प्रतिशत की बढ़ोतरी हुई है. यह दावा केंद्रीय नवीन और अक्षय उर्जा मंत्रालय का है. विगत दशक में, ख़ासकर पिछले 3-4 सालों में, राज्य में सौर और पवन उर्जा के हज़ारों प्लांट शुरू किए गए हैं. इसके अतिरिक्त, अडानी रिन्यूएबल एनर्जी पार्क राजस्थान लिमिटेड (एआरईपीआरएल) भी जोधपुर के भादला में एक 500 मेगावाट और जेसलमेर के फतेहगढ़ में 1,500 मेगावाट की क्षमता वाले सौर पार्क विकसित कर रहा है. कंपनी की वेबसाइट के माध्यम से उनसे यह पूछा गया कि क्या वे भूमिगत तारों के माध्यम से अपने ऊर्जा-उत्पादन को वितरित करेंगे, लेकिन इस रपट के प्रकाशित होने की तिथि तक उनकी ओर से कोई उत्तर प्राप्त नहीं हुआ है.
राज्य में सौर और पवन संयंत्रों से जो ऊर्जा पैदा होती है उसे विद्युतीय तारों के विशाल संजालों के ज़रिए नेशनल ग्रिड को भेज दिया जाता है. बिजली की उच्च तरंगों वाले ये तार गोडावण, गरुड़, गिद्ध और दूसरे वायवीय जीवों के लिए बड़ी बाधाएं हैं. अक्षय ऊर्जा से संबंधित परियोजनाएं पोखरण और रामगढ़-जैसलमेर के गोडावणों के हरित क्षेत्र की बाधाएं बन सकती हैं.
राजस्थान के जैसलमेर ज़िले में सौर और पवन ऊर्जा परियोजनाएं हरे-भरे मैदानी इलाक़ों और स्थानीय निवासियों, दोनों को अपना निवाला बना रही हैं. स्थानीय लोगों में आक्रोश और हताशा की एक बड़ी वजह आसपास के ग्राम्यजीवन और उनके आजीविका के लिए आसन्न संकट की स्थिति है. तस्वीर: राधेश्याम बिश्नोई/PARI
जैसलमेर, मध्य एशियाई वायुमार्ग (सीएएफ़) में पड़ने के कारण बहुत महत्वपूर्ण है – आर्कटिक से मध्य यूरोप और एशिया होते हुए हिन्द महासागर तक पहुंचने के लिए अप्रवासी पक्षी इसी मार्ग को चुनते हैं. एक अनुमान के मुताबिक़, 182 अप्रवासी जलीय पक्षियों की प्रजातियों की 279 की आबादी इसी रास्ते से होकर गुज़रती है. ‘यह कन्वेंशन ऑन दी कन्जर्वेशन ऑफ़ माइग्रेटरी स्पीशीज़ ऑफ वाइल्ड एनिमल्स’ का निष्कर्ष है. कुछ अन्य विलुप्तप्राय पक्षियों में बंगाल का गिद्ध या ओरियंटल वाइट-बैक्ड वल्चर (जिप्स बेंगालेन्सिस), लॉन्ग-बिल्ड या भारतीय गिद्ध (जिप्स इंडिकस), पिद्दो या स्टोलिज्का बुशचैट (सैक्सिकोला मेक्रोरिंचा), हरी मुनिया और हौबरा गोडावण या मैकक्वीन बस्टर्ड (क्लेमिडोटिस मैक्वीनी) प्रमुख हैं.
राधेश्याम एक बेहतरीन फ़ोटोग्राफ़र भी हैं और उनके लंबे फोकस वाले लेंसों से कई बार बेचैन कर देने वाले चित्र भी निकलते रहते हैं. “मैंने हवासीलों (पेलिकन) को रात के समय सोलर पैनलों वाले खेतों में उतरते हुए देखा है, क्योंकि उनको यह गलतफ़हमी हो जाती है कि वे एक झील में उतर रहे हैं. नतीजा यह होता है कि ये असहाय पक्षी शीशे पर फिसल जाते हैं और उनके कोमल पैरों में बहुत गहरी चोटें लग जाती हैं.”
भारतीय वन्यजीवन संस्थान के 2018 के एक अध्ययन के अनुसार, हाईटेंशन तारों से केवल गोडावण ही नहीं मारे जा रहे हैं, बल्कि बल्कि डेजर्ट नेशनल पार्क के भीतर और आसपास के 4,200 वर्ग किलोमीटर के इलाक़े में इनके विस्तृत संजालों के कारण प्रत्येक वर्ष अनुमानतः 84,000 अन्य पक्षी भी मारे जाते हैं. “इतनी ऊंची मृत्यु-दर [गोडावणों की] इस प्रजाति के लिए बेहद ख़तरनाक है और ऐसी स्थिति में इन्हें विलुप्त होने से नहीं बचाया जा सकता है.”
ख़तरा सिर्फ़ आसमान में नहीं, बल्कि ज़मीन पर भी है. मैदानी क्षेत्रों का बड़ा भाग, पवित्र उपवनों या ओरण, जैसा कि उन्हें यहां कहा जाता है, अब निरंतर घूमते रहने वाली 200 मीटर ऊंची पवन चक्कियों से बेतरह भर चुके हैं. दो पवन चक्कियों के बीच बमुश्किल 500 मीटर का अन्तराल रह गया है, और साथ में हज़ारों हेक्टेयर ज़मीन पर ऊंची दीवारों से घिरे सौर संयंत्र अलग बने हुए हैं. पवित्र उपवनों की परिधि में अक्षय ऊर्जा की घुसपैठ, जहां स्थानीय समुदायों के लोग पेड़ की एक टहनी काटने तक को धर्म-विरुद्ध काम मानते हैं, वहां मवेशियों की चराई कराना सांप-सीढ़ी के खेल में तब्दील हो गया लगता है. चरवाहे अब सीधे रास्ते नहीं जा सकते हैं, बल्कि उनको पवन चक्कियों और उनकी सहायक माइक्रोग्रिड को पार करने के लिए पूरी घेरेबंदी को घूम कर पार करना पड़ता है.
(1) भादरिया में एक पवन चक्की और माइक्रोग्रिड के पास मरे पड़े ग्रिफिन गिद्ध के अवशेष. तस्वीर: ऊर्जा/PARI
(2) राधेश्याम, गोडावण की सुरक्षा के लिए उनपर नज़र रखते हैं. तस्वीर: विक्रम दर्जी/PARI
धानी (वह अपना यही नाम इस्तेमाल करती हैं) कहती हैं, “मैं सुबह-सुबह घर से निकलती हूं और शाम को वापस लौटती हूं.” क़रीब 25 वर्षीया धानी को अपनी चार गायों और पांच बकरियों के चारे के लिए घास लाने जंगल जाना होता है. “कई बार अपने जानवरों को जंगल ले जाते हुए मुझे इन तारों से बिजली के झटके भी लगते हैं.” धानी के पति बाड़मेर शहर में पढ़ाई करते हैं, और वह परिवार की छह बीघा (लगभग 1 एकड़) ज़मीन और अपने 8, 5 और 4 साल के तीन लड़कों की देखभाल करती हैं.
जैसलमेर के सम ब्लॉक के रासला में देगराय के ग्राम-प्रधान मुरीद ख़ान कहते हैं, “हम इस मामले को लेकर अपने विधायक और उपायुक्त [डीसी] से भी मिले, लेकिन कोई कार्रवाई नहीं हुई.”
वह बताते हैं, “हमारे पंचायत से होकर हाईटेंशन तारों की छह से सात लाइनें गुज़रती हैं. ये हमारे ओरण [पवित्र उपवनों] में आती हैं. जब हम उनसे पूछते हैं, ‘भाई तुम्हें किसने इजाज़त दी है’, तो वे कहते हैं, ‘हमें आपकी इजाज़त लेने की ज़रूरत नहीं है’.”
घटना के कुछ ही दिन बाद 27 मार्च 2023 को जब लोकसभा में यह प्रश्न उठाया गया, तब पर्यावरण, वन और जलवायु परिवर्तन राज्य मंत्री श्री अश्विनी चौबे ने कहा कि गोडावण के महत्वपूर्ण प्राकृतिक आवासों को राष्ट्रीय उद्यान (एनपी) घोषित किया जाएगा.
उनके दोनों प्राकृतिक आवासों में एक को पहले से ही नेशनल उद्यान घोषित किया जा चुका है, और दूसरा भारतीय सेना की ज़मीन है, लेकिन बस्टर्ड कहीं भी सुरक्षित नहीं हैं.
एक याचिका पर 19 अप्रैल, 2021 को सुनवाई करते हुए सर्वोच्च न्यायालय ने आदेश दिया था, “प्राथमिकता के हिसाब से और गोडावणों के संभावित इलाक़ों में, यथासंभव ऊपर से गुज़रने वाले हाईटेंशन तारों को भूमिगत पॉवरलाइनों में बदल दिया जाए, और यह कार्य तत्काल आरंभ कर एक साल की अवधि में संपन्न कर दिया जाए. और, तबतक मौजूदा पॉवरलाइनों में डाईवर्टर [पक्षियों को चेतावनी देने के लिए बने प्लास्टिक डिस्क जिनसे प्रकाश प्रतिबिंबित होता है] लगाए जाएं.”
सर्वोच्च न्यायालय के फ़ैसले में 104 किलोमीटर लंबे पॉवरलाइन को चिन्हित किया गया है, जहां उन्हें भूमिगत किया जाना है. साथ ही, 1,238 किलोमीटर लंबे लाइनों की भी पहचान की गई है, जिनमें डाईवर्टर लगाए जाने हैं.
वन्यजीव जैव वैज्ञानिक सुमित डूकिया कहते हैं, ‘गोडावणों के प्राकृतिक आवासों में सरकार इतने बड़े आकार के अक्षय ऊर्जा पार्क बनाने की अनुमति क्यों दे रही है, जबकि यहां से गुज़रने वाले तारों से टकरा कर पक्षियों की मौतें हो रही हैं’. तस्वीर: ऊर्जा
दो साल बाद, अप्रैल 2023 तक भी सर्वोच्च न्यायालय के पॉवरलाइनों को भूमिगत करने के आदेश की पूरी तरह से उपेक्षा की गई है, और प्लास्टिक के डाईवर्टर भी सिर्फ़ कुछेक किलोमीटर ही लगाए गए हैं. ये अधिकतर मुख्य सड़कों से लगे हुए वे इलाक़े हैं जहां आमतौर पर मीडिया और जनता की नज़र जाती है. वन्यजीव जैव वैज्ञानिक डूकिया कहते हैं, “उपलब्ध शोधों के अनुसार, डाईवर्टर पक्षियों के तार से टकराने की संभावना को कम करने में बहुत हद तक कारगर हैं. इसलिए, सैंद्धांतिक रूप में इन मौतों को टाला जा सकता था.”
आज ये भोलेभाले परिंदे इस पूरी धरती पर अपने इकलौते घर में ख़तरों से घिरे हैं. दूसरी तरफ़, हम अपने देश में एक विदेशी पशु के लिए घर बनाने की हड़बड़ी में हैं. विदित है कि सरकार भारत में अफ़्रीकी चीतों को लाने की 224 करोड़ रुपए की एक पांच वर्षीय वृहद योजना पर काम कर रही है. उन्हें विशेष विमानों से भारत लाने की योजना है, उनके लिए सुरक्षित वनक्षेत्र निर्धारित और विकसित किए गए हैं, उनपर नज़र रखने के लिए उच्च-गुणवत्ता के कैमरे लगाए जा रहे हैं, और निगरानी के लिए वाचटावर बनाए जा रहे हैं. उसके अलावा, बाघ के उदाहरण भी लिए जा सकते हैं, जिनकी तादाद में अब बढ़ोतरी दर्ज की जा रही है और उनके संरक्षण से जुड़ी परियोजना पर वर्ष 2022 में 300 करोड़ रुपए ख़र्च किए गए.
भारतीय पक्षियों में अपनी क़दकाठी से ख़ासा रोबीला दिखने वाला पंछी गोडावण या ग्रेट इंडियन बस्टर्ड लगभग एक मीटर ऊंची होता है और इसका वज़न 5 से 10 किलो के बीच होता है. यह साल में केवल एक अंडे देता है और वह भी खुले में. जंगली कुत्तों की तेज़ी से बढ़ती हुई तादाद के कारण गोडावण के अंडे हमेशा असुरक्षित रहते हैं. बॉम्बे नेचुरल हिस्ट्री सोसाइटी (बीएनएचएस) के कार्यक्रम पदाधिकारी नीलकंठ बोधा कहते हैं, “स्थिति बहुत गंभीर है. हमें इनकी संख्या को बनाए रखने और बढ़ाने के उपाय ढूंढने के लिए, इन प्रजातियों की ख़ातिर एक अलग क्षेत्र छोड़ देने की ज़रूरत है. और, इनके निषेध के उल्लंघन का अधिकार किसी को नहीं हो.” बीएनएचएस, इस इलाक़े में एक परियोजना पर काम कर रहा है.
उड़ने की क्षमता रखने के बावजूद इस प्रजाति को ज़मीन पर चलना अधिक पसंद है. लेकिन जब यह पक्षी उड़ान भरता है, तो एक अद्भुत दृश्य का निर्माण करता है. इसके दोनों डैने 4.5 फीट तक फैल सकते हैं और अपनी भारी-भरकम काया के साथ यह रेगिस्तान के आकाश में किसी वायुपोत की तरह उड़ता हुआ दिखता है.
संकट केवल गोडावणों पर ही नहीं है, बल्कि जैसलमेर आने वाले बहुत से अन्य पक्षी भी ख़तरे के दायरे से बाहर नहीं हैं. यह ज़िला मध्य एशियाई वायुमार्ग में पड़ता है. आर्कटिक से हिन्द महासागर जाने वाले प्रवासी पक्षियों का यही सालाना मार्ग है. तस्वीर: राधेश्याम बिश्नोई
विशालका्य गोडावण की आंखें उनके माथे के दोनों तरफ़ होती हैं, और इसीलिए वे सामने के ख़तरों को ठीक से नहीं देख पाते हैं. इसलिए, या तो वे सीधे-सीधे हाई टेंशन तारों से टकरा जाते है या फिर एकदम अंतिम क्षणों में इधर-उधर मुड़ने की कोशिश करते है. एक दिक्कत यह भी है कि ट्रक की तरह बस्टर्ड भी तेज़ी से मुड़ नहीं सकते हैं. उड़ान के क्रम में मुड़ने में अक्सर देरी होने के कारण उनके माथे या डैनों के तारों में उलझने का ख़तरा रहता है, जो ज़मीन से लगभग 30 मीटर की उंचाई पर होते हैं. राधेश्याम कहते हैं, “अगर बस्टर्ड इन तारों से टकराने के बाद बिजली के झटके से जीवित बच भी जाते हैं, तो इतनी अधिक ऊंचाई से गिरकर उनका मरना तय है.”
राधेश्याम याद करते हैं कि साल 2022 में जब राजस्थान के रास्ते टिड्डियों ने भारत में प्रवेश किया था, तब “गोडावणों ने खेतों को बचाने में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाई थी. उन्होंने हज़ारों की तादाद में उन टिड्डियों को अपना आहार बनाया था. गोडावण किसी को नुक़सान नहीं पहुंचाते हैं. इनके भोजन में छोटे सांप, बिच्छू, छोटी छिपकलियां आदि शामिल हैं. इस लिहाज़ से वे किसानों के लिए मददगार हैं.”
उनके और उनके परिवार के पास 80 बीघा (लगभग 8 एकड़) खेत हैं, जिनपर वे ग्वार और बाजरा उपजाते हैं, और अगर सर्दियों में मानसून अनुकूल रहा, तो वे कोई तीसरी फ़सल भी उपजा लेते हैं. वह कहते हैं, “फ़र्ज़ कीजिए, अगर 150 की जगह हज़ारों गोडावण होते, तो टिड्डियों के हमलों से निबटना कितना आसान होता.”
गोडावण को बचाने और उनके प्राकृतिक आवास को सुरक्षित व ग़ैर-बाधित बनाए रखने के लिए बहुत छोटे इलाक़े पर ध्यान देने की आवश्यकता है. राठोड कहते हैं, “हम यह प्रयास कर सकते हैं. यह बहुत कठिन काम नहीं है. और, अदालत का यह निर्देश भी है कि पॉवरलाइनों को भूमिगत कर दिया जाए और हाईटेंशन तारों को बिछाने की कोई अनुमति आगे से नहीं दी जाए. सबकुछ नष्ट हो जाए, उससे पहले अब सरकार को भी अपनी ज़िम्मेदारी गंभीरता के साथ निभानी चाहिए.