There are 16 existing, (list in Appendix -III) and proposed sanctuaries and closed areas for GIB conservation in India (Rahmani 1987). Habitat at Pohri is one of the 6 areas that have been recently proposed as a GIB sanctuary in this country. Two sanctuaries Karera Bustard Sanctuary and Ghatigoan Bustard Sanctuary are already existing in Madhya Pradesh. One of them (Karera Bustard Sanctuary) is located even in the same district (Shivpuri) in which this third sanctuary has been proposed. A comparison of these three GIB habitats within M.P allows us to understand the differences and similarities in the values that these areas offer for GIB conservation. Table 3.1 summarises the comparisons on GIB number/population trend, habitat characteristics, disturbance levels and protection in the three GIB habitats.

Table 3.1: COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT GIB HABITATS OF MADHYA PRADESH
 

Two facts clearly emerge out of this comparison :

1. Some of the areas lying outside the protected area are better GIB areas.

2. Developmental activities have serious impacts on conservation values of GIB.

Karera Bustard Sanctuary occupies an important place among the bustard sanctuaries of the country .Inspite of the fact that the land in Karera Bustard Sanctuary does not belong to the Forest Department and no control over the land use is exercised, the department has taken many conservation measures as a result of which the GIB population (30+) has atleast become fairly stable. Agricultural expansion, over grazing and construction of irrigation facilities have posed several threats to conservation efforts but added protection to nesting sites and better management at breeding plots (core areas) have assured protection to GIB in this sanctuary .

On the contrary, the fast dwindling number of bustards and their active nesting sites in Ghatigoan Sanctuary provide a grim scenario and foretell a bleak future for this GIB habitat. The impacts of disturbances associated with developmental activities -construction of road, canals and huts in some of the best habitat areas of the sanctuary were almost immediate. In a personal communication, the Sanctuary Superintendent, Ghatigoan Bustard Sanctuary informed that the number of bustards in the sanctuary in the year 1989 had gone up to twenty three but with the construction of canal in 1991 this number suddenly came down to 4. Some more disturbances are anticipated within the sanctuary in the immediate future with the progress in construction of the proposed railway line through the sanctuary. The factors affecting GIB density and effective population size are complex and too many. Even our intensified efforts to protect this area will not restore to it the much needed protection that is adequate for the conservation of a particular species of wild fauna in the protected area.

Conservation of a 250 km2 scrubland in the area under proposed GIB sanctuary in Pohri supporting as many as 12 birds in a much smaller area is important for protection of GIB. The entire area has been a village land and as a result very little effort could be made by the State Forest Department to protect GIB in an area which otherwise remained in the administrative control of the Revenue Department. Inspite of this, the percentage of active nesting sites remained highest in this area. Enhancing the conservation status of the area under Pohri is possible and urgent. There is greater urgency to enhance its conservation status by its upgradation to a Sanctuary when the conservation value of the existing PA (Ghatigaon Bustard Sanctuary) is already showing a steadily declining trend. The State Government has already taken ,action for the notification of this sanctuary vide letter no.2405 dt. 27.7.93 issued from the office of the Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, Bhopal (Appendix -VII).

Since the area in Pohri has not been impacted by the development initiatives in the past, and not many species of wildlife occur to predate upon GIB eggs and chicks, enhancing the habitat potential and status of this area is possible with some support from District and Forest Authorities. What demands our concern is the fact that GIB would now be exposed to a new kind of threat to their survival and ecology due to the upgradation of HBJ pipeline in the proposed sanctuary at Pohri.