Saifai, February 2, 2016: On World Wetlands Day, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Akhilesh Yadav released the ‘Crane Constituencies – Important Sarus Wetland Sites in the Agricultural Landscape of Eastern Uttar Pradesh’. The publication was unveiled by the Chief Minister at Saifai, Etawah, during first “International conference on the conservation of sarus and wetlands”, to be held in India from February 2 to 3. The conference saw the participation of delegates from six countries and 100 delegates from across India.

A Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and Tata Trusts publication, Crane Constituencies was released in the inaugural session of this pioneering conference which focussed on conservation of birds like sarus crane. The publication is authored by Dr BC Choudhary, Dr Samir Kumar Sinha and Arshad Hussain.

Those present during the release of Crane Constituencies included the UP Forest Minister; Dr Rupak De, PCCF and CWLW (UP); Vikas Verma, APCCF; among others.

Another coffee table book on sarus cranes by Dr Asad Rahmani and Dr BC Choudhury was also released during the conference. More than 500 people were present during the release of these two publications.

WTI, Tata Trusts and UP Forest Department have been implementing the Sarus Crane Conservation Project in the agricultural landscape of eastern Uttar Pradesh in 18 districts which were not considered a stronghold of the sarus crane.

Dr B C Choudhary, Principal Investigator for WTI’s Sarus Crane Conservation Project said, “One of the objectives of WTI-Tata Trusts project was to identify the wetlands that are important for sarus cranes. These wetlands were documented with a perspective to assess their use by sarus cranes and the threats they face, which may adversely affect both the wetlands and the sarus in the region. To give impetus to protection of natural habitat of sarus, 30 wetlands have been identified and documented in this publication. The identified wetlands are important for conservation of not only the species in the region, but also sustaining the livelihood of local communities.”

Sarus is the State Bird and the state government has been working hard for its conservation. According to the state government, Etawah and its neighbouring Mainpuri district boasts of nearly 3,500 of the total 13,670 sarus population in the state. The publication Crane Constituencies helps in prioritizing areas for concentrated effort for conservation of the State Bird of Uttar Pradesh.