"Species recovery requires more than captive breeding." Discuss with reference to the Great Indian Bustard and global success stories such as the Iberian lynx.

Captive breeding can produce birds, but a species recovers only when it has a safe place to live in the wild. The Great Indian Bustard (GIB) shows this. It is Critically Endangered, with roughly 250 birds left after hunting, disturbance and grassland loss [4]. For the GIB, breeding is a bridge, not the destination.

Captive breeding: necessary but limited

• Insurance population: MoEFCC's project received ₹33.85 crore for five years. It aims to build a captive stock and release chicks into the wild [2].
• Sam (Jaisalmer) centre: WII and the Rajasthan Forest Department run it, with technical help from IFHC and Reneco (Abu Dhabi). It hatches eggs collected from the wild [1].
• Limits: released birds go back into the same landscape that caused the decline. With so few birds left, each egg collected means one less wild nest.

What recovery needs beyond breeding

• Habitat: the GIB survives only in small, isolated patches of grassland [4]. The project therefore tests ways to improve habitat that State Forest Departments can copy [3].
• People: bustard habitat overlaps farms and pastures. So WII studies local livelihoods and promotes "bustard-friendly land uses" [3].
• Science and cooperation: in 2026, an egg incubated in captivity in Rajasthan was placed in a wild female's nest in Kutch. It gave Gujarat its first GIB chick in a decade, through MoEFCC, both states and WII working together [5].
• Sustained funding: the GIB is covered by the Species Recovery Programme of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme–Development of Wildlife Habitats [1]. But five-year funding cycles are shorter than the decades a slow-breeding bird needs.

Global success stories

• Iberian lynx (Spain, Portugal): mature individuals rose from 62 (2001) to 648 (2022). In 2024 the IUCN moved it down from Endangered to Vulnerable. Breeding and moving animals between groups worked alongside rebuilt rabbit prey, restored scrub habitat and fewer deaths from poaching and roads [6].
• Saiga antelope (Kazakhstan): moved from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened in 2023. This came through government commitment, scientific support and community collaboration [7].

Captive breeding buys time; habitat, prey, people and patient funding bring recovery. India should pair the Sam flock with grassland restoration, rewards for land users who protect the bird, and long-term funding. That funding should be judged by counts of breeding adults in the wild, the test the lynx passed. This integrated approach fulfils Article 48A and SDG 15 (Life on Land).