Banni Grasslands Reserve:-

Banni Grasslands Reserve or Banni grasslands form a belt of arid grassland ecosystem on the outer southern edge of the desert of the marshy salt flats of Rann of Kutch in Kutch District, Gujarat State, India. They are known for rich wildlife and biodiversity and are spread across an area of 3,847 square kilometers. They are currently legally protected under the status as a Protected or Reserve Forest in India. Though declared a protected forest more than half a century ago Gujarat state's forest department has recently proposed a special plan to restore and mange this ecosystem in the most efficient way. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has identified this grassland reserve as one of the last remaining habitats of the Cheetah in India and a possible reintroduction site for the species.

The word ‘Banni’ comes from Hindi and Sanskrit word ‘banai’, meaning made. The land here was formed from the sediments that were deposited by the Indus and other rivers over thousands of years. Old villagers from this region say that before the 1816 earthquake, the river indus flowed right through banni and the local farmers reaped a rich harvest of crops like red rice and sindhi chookha etc., red rice was the staple diet of the people of the region and it was even recommended by medical practitioners as a 'light diet' for ailing people. However since the earthquake of 1819 the river Indus changed its course and now flows through Sindh in neighboring country of Pakistan effectively turning this entire region arid.

Banni grassland is peculiar to the Rann of Kutch, it has some forty Sindhi speaking Maldhari (cattle breeders) hamlets, home to the Halaypotra, Hingora, Hingorja, Jat and Mutwa tribes . It was first declared a "Protected Forest" in May 1955, using the nomenclature of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Since then, the actual transfer of the land from the Revenue department to the Forest department has not been completed.

Seasonal wetlands and abundance of waterbirds:-

Monsoon rains each year form several marshy wetlands which dot the Banni grasslands and the areas adjacent to it, all being ephemeral or seasonal in nature. Some better known examples are: Vekario-Dhand, Kheerjog, Vinzar varo Thathh, Hodko Thathh, Servo-Dhand, Bhagadio Thathh, Kar near Kirro, Kunjevari Thathh, Hanjtal, and Chari-Dhand - the biggest in size among all of them. In the local Kutchhi-Sindhi language there are four terms used for wetlands in Banni and across the border in Pakistan, they are Kar (smallest), Chhachh (bigger than Kar), Thathh (bigger than Chhach) and Dhand (the biggest of the wetlands). The area of each of these seasonal freshwater wetlands during any given year depends upon the amount of rainfall received during that year.

These wetlands are located on the flyway of palaearctic migratory birds and play a very important role as foraging, roosting, resting and staging grounds for millions of waders, waterfowl, cranes and other feathered migrants that visit the area from August and staying until March every year. Thousands of flamingos in their breeding plumage, Common Cranes (Grus grus) and other wetland birds including hundreds of Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala) and Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) among others can be spotted in the larger of these seasonal wetlands of the Banni.

One of the largest of these seasonal wetlands in the Banni is Chari-Dhand Wetland Conservation Reserve which has been accorded special protected status as a Protected or Reserve Forest to conserve its wildlife and visiting migratory birds

Invasive Ganda Bawal tree:-

Prosopis juliflora, a non-native, thorny, shrubby species of mesquite locally known as Ganda Bawal, was planted in the area to help the Gujarat State forest department fight salinity ingress and barrenness in the Banni region of Kutch. A ban was placed on the tree's harvest in the 1980s, at which time it covered less than 10 per cent of the Banni grasslands. However, it quickly became an invasive species, occupying over 40 per cent of the land by the late 1990s. This worried the forest department, as P. juliflora is known for harming biodiversity and it was clear that it was destroying the grassland ecosystem, so the state government lifted the ban in early 2004, liberalising Prosopis cutting under Section 32 of the Indian Forest Act. The idea, on paper, had been to make charcoal from it and thus help improve the economic conditions of the people of Banni. This was aimed at containing the brazen spread of the wild weed, the decision however backfired with an equally mindless chopping for profit where often native trees were also cut down under the garb resulting in the crucial green cover in the region getting reduced to less than 10 per cent in 2004. In 2008, the Gujarat state government has re-imposed the ban on the cutting of Ganda Bawal in the Banni region of Kutch and a consensus has been reached on this at a joint meeting of the Forest department and Kutch legislators.

Mass cutting of Ganda Bawal trees and the air pollution from charcoal making has unexpectedly also vastly brought down the wild honey bee populations and has had a disastrous effect on wild bee honey collection, crop pollination and crop yields in the Kutch region. The number of dwarf bee hives in one square kilometre area has reduced to only 20-25 from the earlier 60-70 colonies in and around the Banni grasslands after the large scale tree felling. Local honey hunters (Koli community) who used to harvest about 300 tonnes of wild honey annually from Kutch after a blank for two years could only collect just 50 tonnes in 2008.

Chhal Batti:-

In dark nights an unexplained strange dancing light phenomena known locally as Chir Batti (Ghost lights) is known to occur here in the banni grasslands, its seasonal marshy wetlands and in the adjoining desert of the marshy salt flats of Rann of Kutch.

Tourism development:-

The Gujarat State government is developing Chari-Dhand Wetland Conservation Reserve, along with the surrounding areas in and around the Banni grasslands in the district of Kutch, for ecotourism

Wildlife Sanctuaries and Reserves of Kutch:-

From the city of Bhuj various ecologically rich and wildlife conservation areas of the Kutch / Kachchh district can be visited such as Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary, Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary, Narayan Sarovar Sanctuary, Kutch Bustard Sanctuary, Banni Grasslands Reserve and Chari-Dhand Wetland Conservation Reserve etc..

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