Biodiversity Conservation in the Thar Desert

Abstract

The paper deals with the wildlife abundance as it was in the beginning of the present century. The Thar desert has already lost the lion, cheetah, caracal, wolf and wild boar. The population of florican, houbara, great Indian bustard, desert cat, desert fox, jackals, gazelle, black buck has drastically diminished. The causative factors of vanishing wildlife have been discussed. Irrigation through the water brought through the Indira Gandhi Canal is a mighty ecological event which is transforming vast desert grasslands into extensive crop fields. The typical xeric elements are being replaced by mesic species. Several measures for the conservation of biodiversity in the IG Canal region have been proposed which should be adopted without loss of time.