India has ruled individuals have a right to protection from the adverse effects of climate change. Good news for humans. Renewable energy is part of what's protected -- but this is a problem for the Great Indian Bustard.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00This McQueen's Bustard is a long way from home.
00:06The migratory bird species comes to Rajasthan in western India from the Central Asian steppes every year.
00:13But this one got caught up in high-voltage electric cables and was no longer able to fly back.
00:20Fortunately, bird conservationist Radhe Shyam Vishnoy was close at hand.
00:26It has shown a lot of improvement over the last two months.
00:31Now it can fly, but we're waiting for other migratory birds to arrive in winter.
00:37We'll release this one with all the others.
00:41A closely related species to the McQueen's Bustard is also native to this region.
00:48Known as the Great Indian Bustard or GIB for short,
00:53just 128 of them survive in the wild.
00:57In spite of conservation efforts, dozens of Bustards die
01:02when colliding with electrical power infrastructure each year.
01:06This web of power lines comes from India's push for its renewable energy climate goals.
01:12The grid, solar panels and wind turbines need large tracts of open land.
01:17But with lots of wind and nearly year-round sunshine,
01:20this part of Rajasthan has been chosen to become the centre of India's clean energy future.
01:25The plan's proponents, like Aditya Singh, hope it will be a game-changer for the economy.
01:30This renewable energy sector, if you go by any report,
01:34this sector is going to attract investment of trillions in our country.
01:43So if investment comes, the employees, the workers, everyone is going to be positively impacted.
01:51But what's more important, green energy or wildlife conservation?
01:56This question ended up in India's courtrooms.
01:59In 2021, the court ruled that all new electrical power lines be laid underground,
02:06a heavy cost that could make all future renewable energy projects unviable.
02:12There are serious social and environmental concerns which arise out of renewable energy.
02:18This blind approach of having renewable energy park, whether it's solar or wind,
02:24in biodiversity hotspots, in areas which look barren,
02:30but are actually very important from the wildlife perspective,
02:33from the avifaunal perspective, from the perspective of grassland species.
02:39Well, this should not be a ground on which these areas are opened up.
02:44However, the Supreme Court decided in 2024
02:48that biodiversity protection cannot come at the expense of carbon-neutral energy production.
02:54The court overturned the earlier ruling to allow overhead power lines for renewable energy projects.
03:01We have to move to green energy, which is solar and wind and all others.
03:07And therefore, we cannot have such a large area for conservation of the GIB.
03:13Now, GIB is protected not only under the Wildlife Protection Act,
03:18it is also under the Convention on Migratory Species as well as Convention on Biological Diversity.
03:24No one can point out where they are not talking about or not concerned about
03:31the well-being of any species of the nature.
03:36Far from the courthouse debates, shepherds like Kishan Singh
03:41must find ways to eke out a living on rapidly shrinking grasslands.
03:50I used to be able to let my sheep graze anywhere.
03:54But now that solar power plants have been installed, there are fences everywhere,
04:00so we can no longer easily find land to graze our sheep.
04:05As more grassland is diverted for renewable energy production,
04:10the condition of the remaining open steppe is worsening due in part to rising global temperatures.
04:19The desert region has Kheja, Kedri and Goggle grasses, which also have medicinal properties.
04:26These still exist in most of these grasslands.
04:31Our research shows a decline in their presence everywhere.
04:36Another prevalent species is the Sehwan grass,
04:40which is particularly suited to the desert habitat,
04:44and it's not found anywhere else in the country.
04:48It has declined the most in this region.
04:54India's power needs are set to rise steeply in the years ahead.
04:58Even those fighting to protect species like the great Indian bustard
05:02agree with the need to replace fossil fuels with renewables as quickly as possible.
05:08But they stress that citizens must be vigilant
05:11to ward off any unintended consequences to fragile ecosystems.
05:15The real day will happen where every single court, including the courts at the district level,
05:21recognizes the adverse impact of climate change
05:24and are willing to consider this not just as a public interest litigation,
05:30but a survival interest litigation,
05:32because ultimately climate change is about survival of human and non-human species.
05:40Successfully balancing species conservation and renewable energy is challenging,
05:46but also key to ensure the future of our ecosystems and communities.
05:54For more UN videos visit www.un.org