On a quiet spring afternoon, 13-year-old Alimah Hamid is surrounded by more than a dozen members of the Salim Ali Birdwatchers Network (SABN) along the banks of Hokersar wetland on the outskirts of Srinagar.
Armed with notebooks and binoculars, the group — made up entirely of women and girls — reviews the progress over the last month’s targets, which included cleaning wetlands, making pamphlets and conducting school tours.
At the centre of the circle, Seerat-ul-Nisar, one of the founding members of the birding club, carefully notes down each point and suggestion raised by the members.
Amid the discussion, the spotlight turns to Alimah’s book, which she is compiling for school students with information on wetlands and migratory birds.
“This is one of our main focuses. You should get it completed as soon as possible so that the book reaches schools,” Seerat tells Alimah, prompting nods of encouragement from the group.
Notably, Alimah’s book, titled Birds of Paradise, enlists more than 50 migratory bird species, along with detailed descriptions of their habitats and significance.
Kashmir has, however, witnessed a growing number of women taking leadership roles across sectors, including business, media, government and the arts. Conservation is no different.
Like Alimah, every member of the group has an individual task apart from the collective weekly cleanliness drives in wetlands across south and central Kashmir.
This is the 15-member Salim Ali Birdwatchers Network (SABN), Jammu and Kashmir’s first women-led birding network, which was launched in January 2025 after a group of women and girls who had worked individually for years decided to come together under one platform to conserve Kashmir’s fragile environment.
How SABN came together
On the eve of National Bird Day on 4 January 2025, the Wildlife Conservation Fund (WCF), in collaboration with the Kashmir Birdwatchers’ Club (KBC) and The Nature Academy – YPJK, launched SABN at Chatlam Wetland Reserve in Pampore.
The initiative was conceived to create greater opportunities for women and girls to participate in ornithology, ethical birdwatching and biodiversity conservation, while strengthening community-led conservation efforts across Jammu and Kashmir.
The network began with 13 women and girls, including school-going students and college students, who jointly pledged to work towards conserving Kashmir’s wetlands. Until then, many of them had been participating in environmental programmes and conservation activities individually.
Several of the young members had been associated with The Nature School, founded in 2017 by environmental lawyer and conservationist Nadeem Qadri. The initiative was created as a child-centred learning space that brings together traditional knowledge and modern education.
Seerat, one of the founding members, says the idea of creating a dedicated platform for women environmentalists had been taking shape for some time.
“The idea of floating a network of women environmentalists started last year. The need was felt as women needed representation as pro-environment activists. Kashmiri women have always been at the forefront to conserve the environment. Still, because of the lack of any organisational support, their efforts have not been known to the government and public,” she says.
The women had already been connected through environmental programmes, birdwatching activities and awareness initiatives. With support from WCF, KBC and The Nature Academy, they came together to form a structured network.
With notebooks in hand and binoculars slung over their shoulders, these young conservationists now spend their weekends documenting birds, cleaning marshes and reaching out to schools — quietly building a grassroots movement to protect Kashmir’s fragile wetlands.
WCF played an important role in bringing the group together and helping them define their mission and approach.
“We actually wanted women to come forward and join the initiative to conserve our wetlands. Since all these women have been working voluntarily, they need to work under one banner to strengthen their mission. We just guided them and the rest they are good at their work,” says Qadri, Executive Director of WCF.
Seerat says the group is now open to more women and girls who want to contribute to conservation. Those interested can reach out to SABN through its social media platforms, including Facebook, X and WhatsApp, and participate in its cleanliness drives and awareness programmes.
For the young members, however, joining the network is not simply about spending time outdoors.
Alimah says the group deliberately holds most of its activities on weekends, when schools are closed, allowing the students to balance conservation work with their studies.
“We believe that only the new generation can become the changemakers,” she says.
The students say they are inspired by the regular environmental work carried out by WCF and The Nature School and want to take that learning into their own communities.
With notebooks in hand and binoculars slung over their shoulders, these young conservationists now spend their weekends documenting birds, cleaning marshes and reaching out to schools — quietly building a grassroots movement to protect Kashmir’s fragile wetlands.
Poaching, pollution and shrinking wetlands
Every year, lakhs of migratory birds arrive in Kashmir from countries and regions including China, Russia, Siberia and Eastern Europe. But many of these seasonal visitors face threats from poaching, habitat degradation and pollution.
Scores of birds are hunted each year illegally, posing a continuing challenge for the government and wildlife conservationists.
This year, multiple incidents of poaching attempts were reported in Kashmir’s wetlands. On 14 March, a double-barrelled gun, 32 live cartridges and two wooden boats were seized from Narkara wetlands. At Rampura wetlands in the Chattabal area, poaching equipment was recovered after patrolling parties foiled an attempt to trap birds. On 24 March, three alleged poachers were arrested during patrolling in Narkara wetlands, and three guns were recovered from their possession.
For SABN, tackling the problem means going beyond simply documenting birds.
Members regularly visit villages surrounding wetlands to speak to residents about the importance of protecting migratory birds and their habitats. They conduct door-to-door awareness campaigns, hold gatherings with village communities and speak to panchayat representatives about the threats facing wetlands.
The group also visits schools and colleges to take the conservation message to younger audiences.
“We have held many programmes so far. People are joining our mission and voluntarily cleaning the wetlands with us,” says Hurain Gulzar, a founding member of the club.
The network’s efforts come at a time when Kashmir’s wetlands are facing mounting pressure from encroachment.
The concerns have prompted several organisations across the Valley to step up conservation efforts.
Recent data shared by the Office of the Wildlife Warden, Wetlands Division, Kashmir, in response to an RTI revealed that more than 7,600 kanal (385.7 hectares) of marshland has been lost to encroachment. The Wetlands Division said the Hokersar Wetland Conservation Reserve, one of Kashmir’s key wetlands, accounts for the largest share, with 3,784 kanal reportedly encroached upon.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has also flagged the encroachment of more than 2,500 kanals and ecological degradation of Hokersar wetland, warning that the wetland’s “pristine glory” is at risk.
The concerns have prompted several organisations across the Valley to step up conservation efforts. The Centre for Environmental Law, an enviro-legal research centre in Srinagar, is among those working through legal and official channels to protect wetlands.
Inspired and supported by such organisations, SABN was formed to give women and girls a collective voice in efforts to protect wildlife reservoirs, wetlands, rivers and lakes.
Cleaning wetlands, bringing back birds
Since its formation, the network has focused heavily on cleaning and restoring wetlands.
A major portion of Chatlam wetland in Pampore has already been cleaned. At the same time, the club has also conducted a similar cleanliness drive at Hokersar, one of Kashmir’s largest and most important wetlands.
Every Sunday, members gather with plastic bags, sticks and dustbins to clear waste from portions of the wetlands.
The impact, according to the group, is beginning to become visible.
Seerat says Chatlam saw a noticeable increase in migratory birds this year. She estimates that more than one lakh birds visited the wetland during the season — compared with fewer than 50,000 in earlier years.
While the group acknowledges that bird numbers can be influenced by several factors, Seerat believes the cleanliness and restoration work has contributed to making the wetland more hospitable to migratory birds.
The transformation has also made Chatlam more accessible to nature lovers, who can now observe its flora and fauna in a cleaner environment.
“We are so far cleaning Chatlam wetland. It will be followed by Hokersar and then prominent wetlands of the north, which are home to lakhs of migratory birds,” says Seerat.
Alimah’s book, titled Birds of Paradise, enlists more than 50 migratory bird species, along with detailed descriptions of their habitats and significance.
For a group that is barely a year old, the ambition extends well beyond cleaning individual patches of marshland.
The birding club is planning a series of seminars, awareness campaigns and community programmes in collaboration with NGOs, environmental organisations and government departments.
Seerat says they plan to hold seminars across different districts, with open invitations for members of the public who want to contribute to conservation.
The club is also reaching villages located around wetlands, where members speak to residents about protecting water bodies and forests.
From door-to-door awareness activities to kath baath (informal conversations) with panchayat members, the young conservationists are raising issues ranging from wetland encroachment to poaching.
Young women becoming conservation leaders
The women-led nature of SABN is significant in a region where environmental conservation has traditionally had a strong male presence.
Kashmir has, however, witnessed a growing number of women taking leadership roles across sectors, including business, media, government and the arts. Conservation is no different.
Aaliya Mir, for instance, has emerged as one of the Valley’s prominent wildlife rescuers and has become an example of how women can take the lead in protecting wildlife.
SABN is building on that momentum by creating a platform led largely by young women and girls.
Its members believe their age and gender can help them connect more easily with younger audiences. Through school visits, seminars and interactive awareness programmes, they hope to encourage more students to see environmental conservation as something they can actively participate in.
Their cleanliness drives have also brought together volunteers from different age groups. Young people, local residents and even elderly community members have joined the women in cleaning wetlands.
For Alimah and the other students, the message is simple: conservation cannot be left to a handful of experts or organisations.
It has to become a community effort.
From awareness to action
Alimah’s book is one example of how the network is trying to take conservation beyond the wetlands.
She is working with schools to introduce Birds of Paradise as an additional learning resource. The book combines illustrations, sketches and stories to introduce students to more than 50 migratory bird species, their habitats and the wetlands they depend on.
“This book will be introduced as an add-on by the institutes. It has beautiful paintings and sketches of these birds and everything will be put in the form of a story,” Alimah says.
The book launch is being planned alongside the network’s wider awareness activities.
For Alimah and the other students, the message is simple: conservation cannot be left to a handful of experts or organisations.
Meanwhile, members such as Hurain have taken on specific responsibilities within the group. Given her oratory skills and ability to motivate people, she has been assigned to prepare speeches and lead awareness sessions on environmental protection.
Each member brings a different strength — whether it is birdwatching, writing, public speaking, art, research or community outreach.
Together, they are turning those individual efforts into a collective movement.
Government seeks greater public participation
The efforts by SABN have also received appreciation from officials, with the government seeking greater participation from community groups in conserving Jammu and Kashmir’s fragile ecosystems.
Wildlife Warden, Wetland Division, Altaf Hussain Dentoo says the Valley’s forests, wetlands and water bodies can only be revived when more people participate in conservation.
“There has to be participation from all age groups to revive the natural treasures — forests, wetlands and rivers. Any human interference means a big loss to these wetlands in particular,” he says.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has also initiated the demarcation of wetlands in Kashmir to strengthen their protection.
Recently, the government began demarcating the boundaries of Hokersar wetland, which was designated a Ramsar site in 2005. The UT government’s Revenue Department also constituted a 16-member team of officials from multiple departments to demarcate the boundaries of the wetland and the adjacent Nambli-Narkara reserve.
For the members of SABN, however, conservation is not something that can wait for official action alone.
On the banks of Hokersar, Alimah and her fellow birdwatchers continue to take notes, plan school visits and organise their next cleanliness drive.
Their binoculars are trained on the birds. Their notebooks are filled with observations. And their attention is firmly fixed on the wetlands they hope to protect.
For these young women and girls, saving Kashmir’s wetlands is no longer an individual effort. It is a shared mission — one they hope will inspire an entire generation to take flight alongside the birds they are working to protect.
