Falling bird count at kole fields rings in alarm

A sharp decline in the number of birds in the kole wetlands, as brought to light by the Asian Waterbird Census, doesn’t augur well for the ecosystem since it could be an indication of a loss in biodiversity. Farming-related human interventions such as heavy use of pesticides, dredging, and disinfecting fields for fish farming could have played a crucial role in avian population decline. Farmers, on their part, blame the dumping of waste on wetlands.