Protecting wetlands must be our prime concern

Duina Barbaruah

(She can be reached at dwinakashyap@gmail.com)

The Assam Government is soon going to launch a statewide eviction drive to clear water bodies, lakes, and water-carrying channels ahead of the monsoon season.

As per reports, this move follows the massive eviction drive in Silsako Beel in Guwahati.

Many declared wetlands and water bodies have been found under encroachment, which is directly leading to artificial floods in many parts of the state.

These water bodies once served as natural outlets for the excess water to be drained out. But due to heavy encroachment over the years, these water bodies couldn’t discharge the excess water, leading to artificial flooding in the capital city.

As rightly pointed out by environmentalists, Silsako Beel and Deepor Beel, the latter a Ramsar Site of international importance, must be preserved and restored if Guwahati has to be saved from inundation.

The Government has directed all the Deputy Commissioners to clear the wetlands and water bodies from encroachment. “It is a given fact that the unique ecosystem of wetlands and water bodies needs to be preserved in its natural form for maintaining biodiversity and for protection against artificial flooding as well as drought,” said a letter from Dispur addressed to the Deputy Commissioners.

Wetlands provide values that no other ecosystem can. These include natural water quality improvement, flood protection, shoreline erosion control, opportunities for recreation and aesthetic appreciation, and natural products for our use at no cost.

Wetlands function as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt, groundwater, and flood waters. Trees, root mats, and other wetland vegetation also slow the speed of flood water and distribute it more slowly over the floodplain. This combined water storage and braking action lowers flood heights and reduces erosion.

Wetlands not only support high concentrations of biodiversity, but also offer a wide range of important resources and ecological functions such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, storm protection, erosion control, carbon storage, and climate regulation. Protecting wetlands can safeguard our safety and welfare.

Wetlands within and downstream of urban areas are particularly valuable, counteracting the greatly increased rate and volume of surface-water runoff from pavement and buildings. The holding capacity of wetlands helps control floods and prevents waterlogging of crops. Preserving and restoring wetlands together with other water retention can often provide the level of flood control otherwise provided by expensive dredging operations and levees.

The most disquieting fact is that the wetlands that are among the world’s most economically valuable ecosystems and regulators of the global climate, according to the Global Wetland Outlook by the Ramsar Convention, are disappearing from the face of the earth three times faster than forests.

Peat lands, which account for just 3% of the world’s land surface, store twice as much carbon as forests, thus playing a pivotal role in delivering on global commitments on the climate crisis, sustainable development, and biodiversity. Added to this is the fact that wetlands help minimize the risk of disasters such as floods, by protecting coastlines.

This comes to the fore in a recent compilation of species richness in coastal and marine ecosystems that indicated the presence of at least 14 species of sea grasses, 69 species of mangroves (including associates), over 200 species of diatoms, 512 species of porifera, 1,042 species of cnidaria, 55,525 species of molluscs, 2,394 species of crustaceans, 2,629 species of pisces, 37 species of reptiles, 243 species of birds, and 24 mammal species.

As we all know that millions of migratory birds flock to India. During this annual seasonal phenomenon, migratory birds during their journey crisscrossing different continents and hemispheres covering tens of thousands of miles face greater death threats. It is the wetlands that provide a safe haven for the migratory birds, as the “stopover” sites give them rest and protection from predators and inclement weather.

It is noteworthy to mention here that nearly 71% of the migratory water birds of the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) - one of the nine global water bird flyways - use India as a stopover site. It is against this backdrop that sustaining the health of India’s wetlands is of paramount importance for maintaining the waterbird populations within the flyway.

Wetlands are globally under alarming threat for a number of reasons, including water drainage, pollution, unsustainable use, invasive species, deforestation, and soil erosion.

Considering its huge importance, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government has been giving added thrust to the conservation of wetlands in the face of shrinkage of wetlands in many parts of the globe. The government has drawn inspiration from Chankaya’s Arthashastra, where wetlands are being referred to as “anupa”, or incomparable lands, and considered sacred.

With sustainability an intrinsic part of the development of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre, there has been a sea change in the overall improvement of wetlands across the country. India is now home to 49 Ramsar sites, the largest network of Ramsar sites of any country in South Asia.

Since day one of the Modi dispensation, India’s National Wildlife Action Plan (2017-2031) has identified conservation of inland aquatic ecosystems as one of its 17 priority areas, and envisaged the development of a national wetlands mission and a national wetlands biodiversity register as critical interventions. That is not all. Integration of wetlands in river basin management has been identified as a strategy for the management of river systems.

Several Central rules and regulations, including the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, define the regulatory framework for the protection of wetlands located within forests and designated protected areas.

In 2017, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) notified the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EP Act). As per the provisions of these rules, state wetlands authorities have been constituted as the main policy and regulatory bodies within states.

Moreover, under the EP Act, coastal wetlands are protected under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification (2018) and its amendments, and the Island Protection Zone (IPZ) Notification 2011.

In 2020, MoEFCC undertook a “wetlands rejuvenation” initiative revolving around a four-pronged approach: developing baseline information; conducting a rapid assessment of wetlands’ condition using a set of parameters in the form of wetland health cards, enabling stakeholder platforms in the form of wetland mitra (friend); and conducting management planning.

The programme has since been expanded, covering over 500 wetlands.

The Modi government has been relentlessly striving to involve more and more people in the conservation of wetlands as part of the “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”. Wetland mitras have been registered in all major wetlands, and value and threat signage has been put up in these wetlands.

A national wetlands portal has been developed as a knowledge hub on wetlands for all wetlands managers and stakeholders.

According to its prime importance and significance, the Modi-led government has shown the rest of the world the way forward by conserving wetlands and mainstreaming its full range of values at all echelons of developmental planning and decision-making, the Modi-led Government has shown the way forward to the rest of the world. And in this, the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government in Assam has also pitched in its efforts for the conservation of wetlands in no small measure.