SACON is proud to be one of the collaborating agencies of the much-acclaimed report ‘State of India’s Birds 2020: Range. Trends, and Conservation Status‘ published by a consortium of conservation organizations from India – both governmental (including SACON) and non-governmental. The report was formally released on 17th February 2020 by Shri. C.K. Mishra, IAS, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS-COP13) held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
In a first of its kind in the history of Indian ornithology, scientists analyzed voluminous data of over 10 million observations on occurrence of 867 species of birds as reported by over 15,000 birdwatchers in the eBird-India platform. Birds have been categorized into three categories of conservation concern viz., low. medium, and high, based on the frequency of reports from a given grid cell. Trends from long-term and current changes in reporting rates indicate that 52% of Indian avifauna show declining trends with 101 species classified as ‘Species of High Conservation Concern’. These largely include raptors of open and semi-arid grasslands, migratory shorebirds, and habitat specialists -particularly the Western Ghats endemics. On the other hand, species like Indian Peafowl, Glossy Ibis, and Ashy Prinia show increasing population trend across the country, while House Sparrow, much contrary to popular belief, seems to be more or less stable in the vast rural landscape of the country, registering a marked decline only in select metros.
The report stands a monumental example of how Citizen Science – led by dedicated team of birdwatchers, can contribute to India’s conservation efforts through scientific rigour and how governmental and non-governmental organizations can come together for the cause of wildlife conservation in the country.
You can download the ‘State of India’s Birds 2020’ Report here.
For further information on conceptual background to the initiative, its collaborators, data analysis and methodology, species-wise analysis of abundance trends, and other updates, please visit the website: https://www.stateofindiasbirds.in/.
