India needs to develop wetlands to save migratory birds

The ornithologists — different individuals in each case — took me to meadows where cows grazed on yellow wild flowers, to forests, fishing ponds, marshes and riversides.

In each case, we enjoyed sightings of birds in breeding plumage, a sight you don’t see in India because they don’t breed here, even if some of them migrate here every winter.

I was struck that such vast landscapes still existed and in many cases, they belonged to farmers.

The EU, with 500 bird species, has proactively made this happen.

Thanks to its Bird Directive, adopted originally in 1979, updated in 2009 and constantly self-evaluated, the EU is able to protect habitats and birds. Under the Habitat Directive, EU member states have created Natura 2000, the world’s largest network of protected areas.

The step has resulted in significant restoration and conservation.

You might wonder why this matters to us, sitting in India, struggling with filling our water tanks in the morning and battling traffic all day.

But we do enjoy the wilderness — just the local park, sometimes forests in Kerala, a marshlike Bharatpur.

Many birds we see there — even if we aren’t birders — go to Europe for the winter, where the policies ensure they are welcome. Without this, they might not survive. India doesn’t reciprocate the favour, for our wetlands are being filled up fast.

But we must, learn from the EU, or our borderless birds won’t be our visitors for long.