Green energy projects threaten the last refuges of the endangered great Indian bustard

Transmission lines are the greatest threat to the endangered great Indian bustard. In April, the Supreme Court asked wind and solar companies to take their lines underground. As companies continue to violate the order, a ground report from Rajasthan

As you approach Pokhran, the skyline is taken over by giants. They are wind turbines and lofty steel towers that stand tall against the yellow sand dunes, making the landscape look like a dystopian Lego town. The tops of the towers are painted a menacing red; they stand tall as if holding hands with the power lines. Close to Pokhran, where India once flexed its nuclear muscle, a new power struggle is emerging in the sand dunes of Rajasthan. This one is between the people who live there and the power companies that promise clean and green energy to the nation. Caught in this crossfire is a critically endangered bird that has been on a collision course with the power companies’ high tension wires. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) estimates that about 15% of the great Indian bustard (GIB) population dies each year due to collision with power lines, making this the most significant threat to the majestic bird today. The bustard has had a chequered history; its unusual name stopped it from being declared the ‘national bird’ of India. Once found in large numbers across the country, Rajasthan is now home to the single largest viable population of the species. But the State has other plans for the bustard’s habitat — an array of solar and wind energy projects. A WII report from 2020 minced no words: ‘unless power line mortality is mitigated urgently, extinction of GIBs is certain’, it said. And that led to a Supreme Court order in April 2021 mandating that all power lines in both the ‘potential’ and the ‘priority’ habitats of the bird be laid underground. This was a path-breaking order, as it included not just the small area of the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer, but also encompassed a much larger tract of the last remaining suitable habitat, as this would ensure the long-term conservation of the species and the successful reintroduction of captive-bred birds in the future.