Secure Central Asian Flyway

The Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis), the second-largest migratory eagle species to India is on an alarming decline.

- Rachna Singh

Endangered species According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, there has been a significant decline of 79 per cent in the bird population globally. If in the year 2012-13, there were about a lakh, now the number has drastically declined to a mere 37 thousand birds of prey. And, last winter only 1800 Steppe Eagles were spotted in north-western Rajasthan.

Now as a follow-up to the call for international cooperation outlined in the Almaty Declaration at the 'Third Eagles of the Palearctic Conference' in Kazakhstan (2023), a concerted global effort is underway to develop a comprehensive Global Action Plan for the Steppe Eagle, to reverse its decline.

According to Dr Daulal Bohra, the only India representative at the recently held conference at Astana, Kazakhstan, in May 2025, "This urgency was further underscored at CMS COP14 in February 2024, where Decision 14.145 committed to the completion of a 'Single Species Action Plan' for endorsement at COP15, scheduled for March 23-29, 2026. This ambitious timeline necessitates the plan to be finalized by October this year for approval by the CMS Scientific Council."