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It is no revelation that India's bird population has been on the decline but a recent report has mentioned that a dip in the numbers of vulture species was most significant during 1992-2002 and the general bird population from open ecosystems has declined significantly in last 50 years.
Between 1992 and 2002, the populations of white-rumped vulture and Indian vulture combined with the slender-billed vulture dropped by 98 per cent and 93 per cent respectively.
The decline in the population of these apex aerial predators was compared to their populations from the 1980s, according to the Living Planet Report, 2024.
The report, in which India is the only country to have a separate section, attributed the decline in vulture population to widespread use of drugs such as diclofenac, aceclofenac, ketoporfen and nimesulide. Last year, aceclofenac and ketoporfen were banned in India.
Poisoning of livestock carcasses in some areas and electrocutions by high tension electric wires are other reasons for their decline.
The report also took note of diminishing open habitats for birds. These habitats comprise a wide range of ecosystems including open natural ecosystems (ONEs) such as grasslands, semi-arid landscapes and deserts. They also include croplands, grazing and fallow lands, which are created by humans.
In its notes on insects and pollinators, the report expressed concern on the gap between uncertainty over insect diversity, abundance and their declines in context of India’s invertebrate diversity.
According to another report, namely, Living Planet Report (WWF, 2016), a 33 per cent decline in grassland butterfly species was reported in 22 countries over two decades.
It found that anecdotal records suggested a decline in bee population. For instance, it observed that populations of native bees declined by 80 per cent compared to their numbers in 2002 in Odisha.
“There is little to no understanding of the status of pollinator communities such as flies (Diptera), butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), and beetles (Coleoptera),” it noted.
The report noted an upward trend in India’s tiger population which has increased from 3,682 to 3,925 according to the All-India Tiger Estimation exercise by the Wildlife Institute of India in 2022.
The populations have reportedly increased in central India and the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra.
However, noting the substantial, gradual or abrupt decline in nature and biodiversity that can lead to irreversible change, known as 'tipping point', the report exemplified that in Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai, urbanisation led to shrinking of wetlands between 1988 and 2019.
The urban expansion reduced water retaining and groundwater recharge capacity making the populations vulnerable to drought and flood, exacerbated by climate change.