Twenty-eight-year-old Radhe Shyam Bishnoi, a local wildlife conservationist, swiftly grabs his camera, scanning the vast expanse of open land. As he looks up, eyes tracing the horizon, there isn’t a soul in sight--only an endless sea of green grass stretching as far as the eyes can see.

This is Bhadariya Oran, a sacred grove spreading across 125,000 bighas (roughly 20,000 acres) of land–equivalent to one-fifth the area of Mumbai. It is located about 60 km away from Degrai Oran, which is spread in 60,000 bighas (roughly 37,000 acres). These Orans are one of the last natural habitats of Rajasthan’s state bird, the Great Indian Bustard, or GIB).

“You’ll be lucky if we spot a GIB today,” says Bishnoi as he halts the jeep and quickly climbs onto its roof, scanning the horizon with his camera.

Several threats like chasing by feral dogs loom over the GIB’s survival, but none seem as immediate and severe as the high-tension power lines criss-crossing their habitat, locals say. Large swathes of land, especially in Rajasthan and Gujarat, are being used to harness solar and wind power, critical for India’s renewables goals.

In April, the Supreme Court constituted an expert committee to identify suitable options in the context of sustainable development in the matter of laying power lines in the future. In the same order, the Court recognised the right of the people against the adverse effects of climate change as a fundamental right. In this context, we examine the current state of conservation efforts of the endangered bird.