India’s national action plan for conservation of migratory birds and their habitats along Central Asian Flyway (2018-2023)
The Central Asian Flyway (CAF), one among the nine flyways in the world, encompasses overlapping migration routes over 30 countries for different waterbirds linking their northern most breeding grounds in Russia (Siberia) to the southernmost non-breeding (wintering) grounds in West and South Asia, the Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory. India has a strategic role in the flyway, as it provides critical stopover sites to over 90% of the bird species known to use this migratory route. The National Action Plan (hereinafter NAP) for conservation of migratory birds and their habitats states the national priority and specific actions required to ensure healthy populations of these migratory species in India, within their range across the flyway. The NAP draws from the Central Asian Flyway Action Plan which provides a common strategic framework for regional collaboration and affirmative action for protecting, conserving, restoring, and sustainably managing populations of migratory bird species and their habitats in the Indian subcontinent falling under the Central Asian Flyway region. This action plan has been drawn to enable national and state level policy and decision makers, those responsible for species conservation and management of habitats, stakeholders and society at large to take coordinated actions for securing and enhancing populations of migratory birds.