Critically endangered Bengal Florican faces development threat in its 'haven' in Assam: IUCN

Development activities and Assam government's plan to set up a university at Kokilabari seed farm near Manas National Park in Assam has posed a threat to the Bengal florican, a critically endangered birds species, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a global conservation group alerted Assam government recently.

In a letter to Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma on October 7, the IUCN urged that the Kokilabari seed farm, which is a “haven” for the Bengal florican, should be protected by declaring it a community reserve.

"New developments at Kokilabari seed farm are deeply disturbing. We are aware that traditional farmers are being outbid for land by wealthy investors. This is of great concern, as local communities around Kokilabari have a fine tradition and knowledge of land management and can be trusted to carefully tend the parcels entrusted to them. Outside investment always carries the risk of management for short-term profit at the expense of long-term sustainability. These changes pose a huge threat to the viability of the farm and therefore to the local communities and the biodiversity that depend on it," Nigel Collar and Mimi Kessler, co-chairs of IUCN Bustard Specialist Group said in the letter.

"Moreover, we are also aware of the plan to convert the farm into a university campus. We are in principle always supportive of moves to improve higher education, but to destroy a natural jewel like Kokilabari would be a terrible sacrifice of nature. We are sure that there are other sites that can be developed without committing irreversible environmental damage at Kokilabari," it said.

With 58 Bengal floricans, 25 in 9-sq-km Kokilabari seed farm and 33 in 850 sq-km Manas, Manas-Kokilabari has been identified as one of the top three populations surviving on the planet, alongside D’Ering Sancuary in Arunachal Pradesh and Nepal's Koshi Tappu having 100 birds each.

Critically Endangered is the third-highest category of threat that the IUCN assigns to species according to its Red List.

India has nearly 400 Bengal floricans (2017) but the species has already become extinct in Katerniaghat, Kishanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Bornadi and Sonai-Rupai Wildlife Sanctuaries and Nameri National Park in Assam, the IUCN said.

The Bengal Florican is a remarkable bird which is so evolutionarily distinct that it occupies its own genus and is quite unlike any other species of bustard. Robed in an elegant black with bright white contrasting wings, the male undertakes spectacular, unique aerial performances to attract females. Floricans gather, generation after generation, at specific sites in the landscape for breeding, the IUCN said. A copy of the letter was also sent to Assam forest minister, Parimal Suklabaidya.

The Bengal Florican survives in just two very small populations, one in the Indian subcontinent and one in Cambodia. The IUCN said the Cambodian population is under extreme threat because its grassland habitat has been converted to industrial-scale rice production, and because a major power-line has been built across the area it uses (power-lines kill bustards due to collisions in flight), that it is predicted to become extinct very soon.

"This leaves the population in the Indian subcontinent as the only one that has a chance of survival into the distant future. Even this chance, however, is rather small: its surviving populations are almost exclusively in protected areas that are managed for other threatened animals, all of which have far higher global populations. Consequently the Bengal Florican is declining steadily and becoming extinct locally," IUCN said.

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