CB BureauThere are just 350 to 400 Narcondam hornbills left. Although their numbers have been relatively stable in recent years, that may change in the near future. The bird’s numbers are limited to Narcondam Island – a tiny volcanic isle about 1,300 kilometres east of the Indian peninsula – which will soon become a radar station for its proximity to Myanmar and on account of security threats cited by the defence intelligence.
Considering that the hornbill has a tiny range of less than 27 square kilometres and flies short distances, it will either have to cohabit with the radar station or simply vanish, forever. The radar station’s equipment needs just 1.6 acres of land on top of a hill, which wouldn’t do much, but along with it will come a road up the hill through the birds’ breeding areas, along with residences for technicians and supervisors, a helipad, and a large generator to power it all.
Interestingly, the project had been rejected by the previous government in 2012, largely over the issue of the endangered hornbill. However, with the new government’s clear focus on ‘infrastructural’ development and national security, the project will most likely begin within this year. In a recent statement, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had declared that projects relating to national security would be given expedited clearances.
The available land for the birds had shrunk in 1969 when Indian police set up an outpost on the island. They lopped down trees for firewood and to clear land for farming plots to feed themselves. And hundreds of goats, both feral and domestic, whittled down the undergrowth and prevented the forest from regenerating, leaving hornbills with fewer nesting sites.
It is to be noted that the loss of the hornbills could spark other extinctions. The fruit-loving birds are called ‘feathered foresters’ because they consume, defecate and spread seeds from at least nine species of evergreen trees and climbing plants on the island, some of which are found only on Narcondam and are little studied.
While the final decision on the radar station is yet to be taken, what concerns environmentalists across India is the fact that the environment ministry has said it intends to expedite forest clearances for 5,955 kilometres of roads and a further 12,000 acres of land for the establishment of a new army base in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, the site of a border dispute with China – and a biodiversity hotspot that is home to nine wildlife sanctuaries.
Here is another statement from Javadekar: ‘The environment ministry was perceived as a roadblock ministry… a speed-breaker to growth. We care for nature. But we want development also. Decisions are in, delays are out.’ Clearly, environmentalists will have some tasks to do in the days to come.
*Facts and the bird’s picture obtained from National Geographic report:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140712-india-environment-science-narcondam-hornbill/