Dr. Arvind Kumar*
In an era of planetary crises and increasing environmental challenges, finding innovative and sustainable solutions to safeguard the health of our planet and promote human well-being is paramount and wetlands play a crucial role in it. As per recent estimates, wetlands of at least 2.25 ha in size make up 4.86% of country’s geographical area (15.98 million-hectares). Wetlands, including marshes and swamps, store large quantities of carbon and play a vital role in climate regulation. Wetland ecosystems help mitigate climate change by reducing emissions from degradation and supporting carbon sequestration. The coastal blue carbon soaked by mangroves, salt marshes and sea grasses via photosynthesis and stored in wet anaerobic soils has received considerable attention recently in the context of climate change. In India, there has been a potential threat to the wetlands environment for more than 20 years. Rapid infrastructure development adopted during the post-economic reform era hugely ignored the wetlands’ potential economic and ecological benefits, particularly to those living nearby.
Wetlands have been the first casualty of so-called blind and unsustainable development strategy. As a result of this blatant ignorance India has lost nearly two of five wetlands in the last 30 years, while 40% of them can’t support aquatic animals as per a data from Wetlands International. If we particularly talk about urban wetlands; Chennai lost 90% of its wetlands to unplanned urbanization, leaving the city to grapple with issues of water security and degraded environment. Hyderabad lost 55% of its wetlands to inefficient waste management, rising pollution and unchecked urban development. Mumbai lost 71%, Ahmedabad 57%, Bengaluru 56%, Pune 37% and Delhi-National Capital Region lost 38% wetlands mainly to construction and eutrophication from pollution.
Although it is a proud moment for India that now we have 80 ramsar sites. However, some Ramsar sites are struggling under intense development pressure. Deepor Beel, East Kolkata Wetlands, and Pallikarnai wetlands all continue to see active waste dumping. The habitat of the critically endangered Sangai deer is now at risk because of changes in water regime brought on by the construction of the Ithai Barrage. In and around Sambhar, illegal salt mining has significantly reduced flooding patterns. Extreme levels of pollution can be found at Harike, Kanjili, Vembanad-Kol Ashtamudi, and other places. The majority of the current lists of Ramsar Sites are designated as Protected Areas. These places’ management is mostly dictated by the requirements of species and habitats, which leaves little room for accommodating judicious use. Now the million dollar questions are- Why government is failing to enforce Wetland Conservation Rules, 2017 for which the guidelines have been drafted in 2020? Why state governments fail to decipher the economic benefit of the wetland ecosystem services? Why aren’t we sensitized enough regarding protection of such ecosystem services?
Essential for Human Wellbeing
It would require a $5 million treatment plant to remove the pollutants filtered by the wetlands if we calculate. India suffered a total loss of $3.2 billion from flooding. The country faced heavy rains and flash floods during the monsoon season between June and September 2023. Flood damages have been increased by the draining of wetlands. A one-acre wetland can typically store about three-acre feet of water (one acre of land covered by three feet of water), or one million gallons. Coastal wetlands serve as storm surge protectors when hurricanes or tropical storms come ashore.
I realized that the sheer ignorance of the knowledge resources about the significant economic values being rendered by the wetland ecosystem has hardly been explored so far. Don’t you think conserving the goods and services of wetlands and sustainably intensifying the wetland ecosystem services are of paramount importance for poverty alleviation as well as food and livelihood security for marginal poor segment of the society? Such ecosystem helps us to create a climate resilient environment by regulating the local climate. Wetlands are the natural kidney, one of the largest water purifying aquifers. Wetlands work to balance the gross underground water table & act as a sink to the Green House Gases and provide a wide range of ecosystem services along with aesthetic enhancement of landscapes while simultaneously supporting many significant economic, recreational, social and cultural activities.
The overall idea is very much aligned with the Prime Minister’ Modi’s ‘Mission Amrit Sarovar’ for preservation and restoration of wetlands and sustainable use of their resources by maintaining their ecosystem services. As former member of the National wetlands Committee of the ministry of Environment forests and climate change while drafting the guidelines for the Wetlands Conservation and Management Rules, 2017 pushed for the participation of local communities in governing and monitoring wetlands. With the advent of these guidelines around 757,000 wetlands with a total wetland area of 15.3 million ha, accounting for nearly 4.7% of the total geographical area of the country were identified. India is now a land of 80 Ramsar Sites. In the guidelines we linked the wetlands to revenue records which further lead to more wetlands cropping up through GIS mapping and more by removing encroachments. The guidelines clarified that all wetlands, irrespective of their location, size, ownership can be notified under the Wetlands Rules 2017.
Way Forward
Wetlands’ vulnerability will undoubtedly rise as a result of climate change and its associated drivers and pressures. The most effective management approach for limiting increases in GHG emissions from wetlands is probably to avoid impacts on wetlands and associated carbon stores and processes. Incorporating wetlands’ carbon sequestration and GHG emissions into national carbon stock and flux assessments would be a first step in this approach. A thorough inventory of the peatlands is also important. Second, wetlands management must take climate concerns into account. This can be accomplished by enhancing wetland monitoring programmes designed to identify signs and patterns of climate risk.
Wetlands are subject to the danger of mal-adaptation, which is the possibility of negative effects on these ecosystems as a result of adaptation measures in other areas. For instance, building hydraulic infrastructure to boost freshwater storage in upstream stretches may increase the dangers of coastal wetlands becoming salinized. It is also essential to ensure that conservation action is not led by the role of wetlands in carbon cycles alone, instead takes into account the full range of ecosystem services and biodiversity values of these ecosystems. We need to establish a Wetland Governance to deal with sustainable long term management of such potential economic & ecological resources. Such centre of wider ecological relevance can be developed into an important eco-tourism destination. In order to improve water security and other water-related benefits the role and value of water and wetlands should be integrated. It is an awareness and governance challenge, with potential for significant synergies and efficiency gains, because investments in wetlands are investments in human welfare. To address the economic drivers of ecosystem change, there is a need to mainstream ecosystem services into economic decisions.
*Editor, Focus Global Reporter
