World Sparrow Day: Time to Save our Age-Old Friend

Sparrow is one of the most common birds on earth and is also one of the oldest friend of human beings. It has, over a period of time, evolved with us. Unfortunately, from the past few years, this bird has been on the decline over much of its natural range, both in the urban and rural habitats.

History of Sparrow Day & Theme: 

World sparrow day is celebrated globally since 2010 on March 20th of every year. It is an international initiative by the Nature Forever Society of India in collaboration with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) and numerous other national and international organizations across the world. The idea is to celebrate World Sparrow Day came up intending to educate the public about the polluted environment and also to draw attention about the house sparrow and threat to their population. This year, the theme of World Sparrow Day 2021 has been 'I Love Sparrow'. This theme was decided in a hope that more people will participate in the cause to protect the sparrows 

Cause of Decline:

According to various reports, the population of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) has declined at an alarming rate in India, especially since the late 1990s. There are many reasons of this decline- 

• Research done on the body of sparrow suggests that the amount of lead and boron in them has gone above the toxic limit. Apart from this, the quantity of metals like arsenic, nickel, chromium, cadmium and zinc in other lines was also much higher than normal. Consumption of heavy metals in the form of food is causing disorder in their organs and fertility is also being affected. Due to pollution, their eggs are becoming hollow and weak, due to which children are not born.  

• The other reasons could be the excessive use of DDT, repellants, insecticide, and pesticide which can contaminate soil, water, and other vegetation resulting in toxic intake by the birds. 

• One more reason of decline of the sparrow population are loss of habitat due to rapid urbanisation, diminishing ecological resources for sustenance, high levels of pollution and emissions from microwave towers. 

Initiatives taken to Save Sparrow:   

• ‘Rise for the Sparrows’ is an initiative of the Nature Forever Society which aims to inspire, empower and involve the citizens, schools, educational organizations, government agencies, NGOs and practically anyone who is to contribute towards conservation of sparrows and other common birds. 

• Eco-Roots Foundation set up on 23 March 2012 to raise awareness and launched the ‘Save the House Sparrow Programme’ to carry out his mission of helping sparrows. Over the next two years, the programme spread to 30 other Indian cities, including Raipur, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Shimla, Lucknow, Amritsar, Chennai and Bangalore. 

At last, I would like to say that it is very important to raise awareness about the decreasing population of sparrows otherwise soon children may hear stories that begin with, “Once upon a time, there was a little bird called a sparrow.” Still we have time. It is not too late to stop this calamity. According to my opinion, building at least one nest on every birthday or any celebration will be a worthy gift for our mother nature and also go organic save our planet. This Sparrow Day we wish you all to take a step forward to save the ecosystem and maintain its biodiversity: Lets Go Organic & Build a nest for Sparrow.