High-voltage energy strains are rising as one of many important killers of birds in Nepal, affecting frequent species corresponding to crows all the way in which to critically endangered vultures.The nation is crisscrossed by energy strains that carry electrical energy to cities and cities from the greater than 100 hydropower initiatives nationwide.But planning of the strains is haphazard, and the required environmental impression assessments are shoddy and have a tendency to disregard birds, conservationists say.The drawback might get even worse as Nepal continues to considerably ramp up hydropower initiatives and the related energy strains.
KATHMANDU — When Suman Hamal was rising up in his hometown of Putalibazar in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, he noticed birds of various species and sizes fly round in his neighborhood.
He remembers being amazed by the fantastic thing about the creatures and questioning how they might take to the skies. “But I’d really feel heart-wrenched once I would come throughout fowl carcasses close to electrical energy strains and poles,” Hamal informed Mongabay. “There had been occasions once I would see a fowl resting on a powerline and all of the sudden drop to the bottom.”
Hamal, who just lately accomplished his grasp’s diploma in zoology from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, is the co-author of a newly printed research on the impacts of energy strains on birds in Putalibazar. But birds are dying in giant numbers all throughout Nepal as a consequence of energy strains. Haphazardly laid strains that crisscross the nation to distribute energy from its 123 giant hydropower initiatives (and quite a few smaller ones) are proving to be loss of life traps for birds, a few of them already critically endangered species.
Nepal, gripped by an acute energy scarcity for greater than a decade, has invested closely in hydropower previously few years. Today, its put in capability stands at round 2,100 megawatts, sufficient to even enable it export electrical energy to India in the course of the moist season. In six years’ time, the quantity is anticipated to extend to 18,000 MW in the course of the monsoon and 11,000 MW in winter. While there’s been some consideration paid to all these initiatives’ impacts on the fish and macroinvertebrates within the rivers, the fallout on birds has largely been ignored.
“Traditionally, it was believed that giant birds of prey can be those affected by the facility strains,” Hamal mentioned. But the research discovered that smaller birds corresponding to the home swift (Apus nipalensis), frequent myna (Acridotheres tristis), home crow (Corvus splendens) and rock pigeon (Columba livia) are additionally affected, Hamal mentioned. He and his co-authors additionally recorded the electrocution of white-rumped vultures (Gyps bengalensis), a critically endangered species.
The research authors established 17 round plots in various habitats, together with farmland, forests, settlements and river basins, alongside a 30.6-kilometer (19-mile) distribution line. During observations from November 2021 to May 2022, they discovered {that a} fowl collided with the facility line each 2 km (1.2 mi), and round two birds had been electrocuted for each 10 distribution poles.
Transmission strains and energy stations in Nepal. Image from Bhattarai et al.
Nepal had greater than 5,300 km (3,300 mi) of high-voltage transmission strains as of the previous fiscal 12 months, in line with the Nepal Electricity Authority, the nation’s state-owned energy monopoly. That’s a “drastic improve” of two,700 km (practically 1,700 mi) over the previous seven years, the utility says, with one other 3,100 km (1,900 mi) of strains within the works throughout the nation.
And whereas the laying of latest strains requires a previous environmental impression evaluation, these assessments are typically flawed, conservationists say. Nepal has a foul observe file in conducting EIAs, Mongabay reported beforehand.
“And even the suggestions of the assessments have hardly ever been applied totally,” mentioned ornithologist Hem Bahadur Katwal, a co-author of the latest research.
Various research have discovered that energy strains are fast-emerging threats to raptors and different birds of prey, a few of them, just like the white-rumped vulture, critically endangered.
“Until just lately, we noticed that the drug diclofenac ingested by vultures from carcasses of sick animals was the main killer of vultures,” mentioned Ishana Thapa, CEO of the NGO Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN). “But now, it’s the energy strains. Our monitoring information reveals a gradual rise within the variety of electrocution and collision deaths attributable to energy strains.”
According to a database maintained by BCN, most electrocution instances have been reported in Nepal’s Gandaki and Lumbini provinces, the place hydropower and transmission strains are being constructed in numerous places. Between February 2010 and March 2023, 122 vultures of seven species had been reported to have been electrocuted throughout 17 districts within the nation. A file 31 electrocutions had been reported in 2022 alone.
A vulture dies after being electrocuted on an influence line in Nepal. Image courtesy of Krishna Bhusal
A soon-to-be-published research led by ornithologist Tulsi Subedi based mostly on surveys in 5 areas of Nepal between 2018 and 2021 discovered 54 electrocuted raptors of eight species. Additionally, residents of Bhorletar in Tanahun district knowledgeable researchers that 30 to 40 vultures had been electrocuted in 2020 and 2022, in an space the place energy strains go near a cow rescue website, a favourite feeding spot for vultures.
“It is ironic that we spent hundreds of {dollars} to hatch one vulture egg in captivity, however they’re being allowed to die so simply due to the facility strains,” Subedi mentioned, referring to Nepal’s vulture captive-breeding program, which was shut down in April 2022 following experiences that vulture populations had bounced again within the wake of the diclofenac disaster.
Nepal’s authorities just lately got here up with a directive on constructing and designing wildlife-friendly linear infrastructure, corresponding to energy strains and roads, however the issues of electrocution and collision aren’t been addressed within the doc, Mongabay reported beforehand.
Ankit Joshi, program supervisor at BCN, mentioned energy strains are being laid haphazardly and in an uncoordinated method.
“At occasions, we see a number of layers of powerlines and they’re additionally not very removed from one another,” he added. It’s successfully creating an electrocution cage for birds, he added.
Katwal mentioned a primary step towards addressing the issue is to make sure that EIAs take into account the gravity of impression on birds.
“Bird abundance research needs to be carried out totally earlier than we work on energy strains,” he informed Mongabay. “The greatest concept can be to keep away from areas with excessive abundance of birds.”
A extra concerned measure can be to retrofit the present vast community of energy strains to a minimum of cut back the potential of fowl deaths, Subedi mentioned. Simple measures corresponding to putting in fowl spikes and altering the place of the components which have the potential to electrocute birds might go a great distance towards lowering fatalities, he mentioned.
“This doesn’t value a lot in comparison with the hundreds of {dollars} we spent on captive-breeding packages,” he added.
Thapa from BCN mentioned extra research are wanted in Nepal to evaluate which mitigation measures work. Different international locations have tried numerous approaches to the identical drawback, corresponding to putting in reflectors and colourful balls to keep off birds from energy strains; rising the space between the wires; and planning routes based mostly on fowl actions.
“We want to determine what works in Nepal after which implement it a minimum of for brand spanking new initiatives,” Thapa mentioned.
Gokarna Raj Pantha, spokesperson for the Electricity Regulatory Commission, mentioned his workplace has no plans to do something of the type. “The challenge of birds is to be addressed by EIA and the Ministry of Environment,” he informed Mongabay. “Our workplace is comparatively new and we’re but to start out working in a full-fledged method.”
Banner Image: A hydropower station in Nepal. Image by Nirmal Dulal through Wikimedia CC BY 3.0
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Citations:
Bhattarai, T. N., Ghimire, S., Mainali, B., Gorjian, S., Treichel, H., & Paudel, S. R. (2022). Applications of sensible grid expertise in Nepal: Status, Challenges, and alternatives. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(10), 25452–25476. doi:10.1007/s11356-022-19084-3
Hamal, S., Sharma, H. P., Gautam, R., & Katuwal, H. B. (2023). Drivers of energy line collisions and electrocutions of birds in Nepal. Ecology and Evolution, 13(5). doi:10.1002/ece3.10080
Also learn:
‘Wildlife-friendly’ infrastructure guidelines in Nepal and India ignore the birds
Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Birds Of Prey, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, electrical energy, Endangered Species, Hydropower, Infrastructure, Mitigation, Poisoning, Raptors, Vultures
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