Open Access Research Article
Importance, Conservation, Policies And Status Of Wetlands In India (By-Qazi Mohammed Usmaan & Mohammed Faraz Husain)
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Article Details
Importance, Conservation, Policies
And Status Of Wetlands In India
Authored By-Qazi Mohammed
Usmaan & Mohammed Faraz Husain
Faculty of Law, Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi,
Corresponding Author:
Mohammed Faraz Husain
Abstract
Wetlands are the
repository of the aquatic system and have their own ecosystem. Wetlands are
very important to balance the ecological environment and are very valuable for
mankind in a number of ways such as flood control, purification of water and
recharging of groundwater. It also provides a peaceful environment which is
very favourable for recreation, trip and also tourism. But now a day, wetlands
are being destroyed in large numbers. There are so many reasons for their
destruction such as urbanization, deforestation, pollution, excessive use of
the toxic chemical in agriculture, industrial waste and unawareness of the
conservation of wetlands. In this paper, a study of the wetlands has been done.
The function, threats, and conservation of wetlands have been studied. The
schemes, policies and programmes running in India for the conservation of the
wetlands have been studied and discussed in detail.
Keywords?NWCMP, National
wetland conservation and management programme, NLCP ? National lake conservation plan,
NEP- National environment programme
Introduction
Wetlands are the areas which are covered with sallow
surface water and it consist of swamps, aquatic animal life and some aquatic
plant. Some plants and animal can survive only in the wetlands. Ponds, lower
lakes and peatlands are the example of the wetlands. Wetlands play very
important role to storage of rain water, improvement in quality of water,
processing of carbon and other nutrients and very helpful to stabilisation of
shoreline. The 6% area of earth is covered with wetlands[1]. wetlands provide habitat of wildlife and it forms an
ecosystem. But now fifty percent wetlands are in the stage of drying.
Urbanization and agricultural activities, pollution, and lack of industrial
waste management and climate change are some basic reason to destruction of
wetlands. So, to protect the destruction of wetlands different plans can be
adopted such wetland restoration, wetland creation, wetland enhancement and
awareness programme. 2nd February is commemorated as wetlands day
that was decided in Ramsar convention 1971. This convention is recognised as a
treaty on an international level. The main purpose of this treaty is to
conserve and utilize sustainably the wetlands by recognizing their benefits in
terms of fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic,
cultural, scientific, and recreational value. Non-governmental organizations
and government agencies and groups of citizens celebrate wetlands day by
undertaking to raise awareness about the values and benefits of wetlands.
Function Of
Wetlands
Wetlands
are very helpful to environment as well as human being. The functions of
wetlands are following:
A.Wildlife
habitat
Wetlands consist of surface water, soil, aquatic
animals, aquatic plants and organisms. So, we can say the wetlands provide
habitat. Some unique plants are found in the wetland which are very useful in
pharmacy. By providing habitats to wildlife wetlands form an ecological system
and make a healthy environment [2].
Wetlands play a very important role to control flood.
As we know the wetlands have a large surface area. During the rain, wetland
absorbs the water and also provides the surface area for storage of water[3].
C. Purification of water
Wetlands store water for a long time. Due to the long
time storage of water, the sediments and other massive components are settled
down and pure water is present in the middle level of the wetland. this
freshwater can be used to drink [4].
D. Ground water recharging
Wetlands collect the runoff water during the storm and
rain, and for some days all undesirable components either shuttle down or flow
over the surface and the fresh water remains in wetlands. This freshwater
release to ground level and process of recharging of ground level are
completely done. Sometimes groundwater is also discharged to wetlands. So, wetlands
are having a very important role in the water cycle [5].
E. Improve economy
Wetlands can be used for fisheries. In some wetlands such
as ponds, a large amount of production of fishes can be produced. Wetlands
provide a healthy environment for fisheries and some peatland wetlands provide
fodder to animals. So, the wetlands are also important to the growing economy
of any country [6].
F. Tourism
Wetlands have a beautiful
and peaceful environment and their biodiversity is so attractive, that
different types of hydric animals and aquatic life can be seen. So, wetlands
are very important place for tourism and trip. In a wetlands environment the
beauty of nature can be seen and many people come to wetlands for meditation
and amusement[7].
Table
1: A non-exhaustive list of the general function of wetlands
|
1.Regulation
functions
|
a) Storage and recycling of nutrients
b) Ground water recharge
c) Erosion control
|
|
2.Carrier
functions
|
a)
Agriculture
irrigation
b)
Habitat
for plant and animal species
|
|
3.
Production Functions
|
a)
Water
b)
Food
c)
Genetic
resource
|
|
4.Information
function
|
a)
Culture
heritage
b)
Research
|
Threats To
Wetlands
There are so many activities which are responsible for
the destruction of wetlands. Most of the reasons of destruction of wetlands are
due to undesirable human activity towards the environment. These activities are
also responsible for pollution in environment. Some basic reasons of
destruction of wetlands are as follows:
A. Urbanization
As we know that this is era of science and technology,
for implementation of new technology some components requirement is to be
fulfilled by industry. So, for installation of industry, large area is
required. But on the earth the area is limited. It has been observed that most
of industrial area are established at the inundated wetlands. Due to this,
there is decreasing in number of wetlands.
B. Agricultural
activities
To get more production of crops and more money, the
number of wetlands is converted in to field for agriculture. Now days there is
a use of number of toxic chemicals to get large production and more profit.
These chemicals like nitrates, nitrites, phosphorus, phosphates alongside other
pesticides and fertilizers are very harmful. Due to the excessive use of these
chemicals, during the rain these chemicals discharged to wetlands. And these
are very harmful for aquatic life. So, due to presence of such chemicals most
of aquatic animal die and due to this the ecosystem of wetlands gets unbalanced
and slowly the wetlands get dried out.
C. Deforestation
Deforestation is also major reason for destruction of
wetlands. Deforestation is done for business purpose and to full fill the
requirement of population need. Forests are being cut down. Due to the deforestation
the ecosystem of nearby wetlands gets unbalanced and gradually the wetland gets
dried out.
D. Climate
change
Due to the climate change such as increase in
temperature due to global warming, number of species living in wetlands are
dying. And the ecosystem of wetland becomes unbalanced. Gradually the wetland
gets dried out.
E. Overgrazing
Overgrazing is also responsible for the destruction of
wetlands. Due to the overgrazing, paddylands and plants in wetlands are eaten
and due to this, aquatic animals, which are dependent on these plants have no
food so they can?t survive and gradually the ecosystem of wetlands gets
unbalanced and wetland gets dried out.
Wetlands In
India
In India there are different type of
geographical topologies and climate changes after two or three months. So,
there are different types of wetland in India. 7,57,040 wetlands covering
1,52,60,572 ha are in India as per the National Wetlands Atlas.
India became a party to the ?Convention on
Wetlands?, also known as the RAMSAR Convention on 1st February 1982 and has
since then designated 49 wetlands covering an area of 10,93,636 hectares under
the List of Wetlands of International Importance which includes 5 sites
designated during FY 2020-2021. Presently, India stands first in South Asia and
third in Asia in terms of a number of designated sites. Detail of RAMSAR
wetlands in India [as on February, 2022] are given in Table 3. The change in
number of RAMSAR sites in India and area year wise is given in fig. 2.
Most of wetlands are natural. The largest site
is Venbanad which is in Kerala. Vembanad spread around 1,51,250 hectares. In
India there are so many acts and laws are implemented to conserve the wetlands.
But there is lack of regularity framework to conserve wetlands in India. There
are so many programmes are organized to aware the importance of wetlands and
current status of wetlands.
|
Table
3: Detail of RAMSAR wetlands in India [As on February, 2022]
|
Fig.
2 Number of RAMSAR sites in India and area,year-wise is given in fig. 2 [8].
Conservation
The conseravtion of
wetland can be done by the following ways:
A. Wetland
restoration
Wetland restoration is the process of
recovering the physical and biological condition of wetlands. If we recover the
favourable biological and physical condition of any wetland, then we can save
the wetland from getting destroyed. So, the wetland restoration is very
important method to conserve the wetlands. These biological and physical
condition can be achieved by planting specific plants, and maintaining the pH
level of water.
B. Wetland
enhancement
The wetland enhancement is the process of
maintenance and modification of the wetlands. Generally, wetland is enhanced by
following ways:
·
Enhancement in hydric soil
The wetland can be enhanced by desirable
modification of biological and hydrodynamic properties like porosity, soil
organic carbon level, pH level.
·
Enhancement in vegetation
In this process, some suitable plants are
planted in the wetland to balance the ecosystem. This is the method generally
used nowadays. There are so many projects for the enhancements and maintenance
of the wetland.
Fig.1 Vegetative Enhancement
C.
Wetland creation
It is the process of the creation of a new
wetland. For the creation of wetland, the suitable environment should be
available. And plants and some animal species should be there. The created
wetlands are called constructed wetlands. This process is difficult but the
research is going on to make a favourable environment for wetlands. Now day
some projects and research going on to reduce the complexity in the creation of
wetlands.
D.
Industrial waste management
The industrial waste has major role to polluted
and destroyed the wetland so, industrial management is another way to control
the degradation of wetlands. So new technology is required to manage the
industrial waste. The industrial polluted water can be filtrate and for
treatment of polluted water and waste is required to overcome the problem of
industrial waste. The radioactive industrial waste is the major problem for
wildlife in wetlands. Due to radioactive waste the all living organisms and
species are died and wetlands are destroyed.
Protection
laws and government initiatives
A. RAMSAR convention
It was
the first convention for the conservation of wetlands which was organized at
Ramsar city in Iran in 1971. The
mission of RAMSAR convention is ?the conservation and wise use of all wetlands
through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a
contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world?. In
this convention, there was a proposal for intergovernmental cooperation to the
conservation and wise use of wetlands. And the list of wetlands and their
current status were discussed. This
Major
obligations of the country which participated are:
- to
designate wetlands for inclusion in the list of wetlands of international
importance.
- to
promote, as possible, the wise use of wetlands in their territory.
- to
promote international and intergovernmental cooperation for wetland
protection.
Total
Contracting Parties in RAMSAR Convention are 172. The total number of Wetlands
of International Importance is 2,439 and the total surface of designated sites
is 254,688,925 ha. This data is as on June 30th, 2022 as per
https://www.ramsar.org/[8].
This NLCP is carved out of wetlands protection
and conservation programme in 1993. In this programme lakes which are spread
around urban areas are focussed. It was found that these lakes are subjected to
anthropological pressure. This programme was to reduce the degradation of these
lake. And scheme of NLCP is to restore and conserve polluted and degraded lakes
generally which are spread around the urban areas. Following were the steps
proposed and done. First of all the pollution
level are checked and then cleaning process is done. Some public awareness
programme also organized.
Inclusion of all wetlands types (marshes
coastal freshwater mangroves swamps and waterlogged areas) in land use
classification should be done in the country.
A national wetland biodiversity register should
be started. Wetlands economic evolution should be computed and it might be
integrated with National Resource Accounting.
National wetland inventory and monitoring
programme should be established to develop sustained wetland programme to
improve their conditions. Studies on wetland productivity for long time,
identified organization from different areas of country should be undertaken,
it will bring out indisputable information and data of wetland productivity and
it would be very helpful to check the wetland ecosystem health.
C. National environment policy (NEP), 2006 The
cabinet approved NEP on 19 May,2006. And recognized a number of environmental
and ecological services rendered by wetlands. Six-fold plans were identified by
NEP to save the wetlands, do a survey to the number of wetlands and know the
condition of the wetlands. If any factors to found that may degrade the
wetlands then they plan how wetlands may be unaffected by it. They also survey
for any illegal activities and complain to stop. To integrate wetland
conservation, involving conservation of village ponds and tanks into sectoral
development for livelihood improvement.
D. National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic
Eco-Systems? (NPCA)
This
is a centrally funded program of the government of India that was formulated in
2013 by the amalgamation of the National Lake Conservation Plan and the
National Wetlands Conservation Programme. The aim of this programme is to
conserve and protect the wetlands and lakes. Additionally, there will be
inventorization on lakes and wetlands along with the scope the for related
information system.
There
will be National level directive on criteria for lakes and wetlands, Regulatory
Framework (Revisiting the Wetlands Rules, 2010), Capacity building at State
Government and local body levels, Evaluation etc. [9]
E. Wetlands (Conservation and Management)
Rules 2017
These
rules were notified by the
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in 2017. These
rules will be the regulatory framework for the preservation and administration
of wetlands in India. It was a noteworthy step to preserve, manage and uphold
the environmental eccentric nature of the wetlands without limiting their
astute use. These rules strengthen the legal structure for conservational
concerns and reinforce the formal agenda through State / UT Wetland Authorities
and a National Wetland Committee.
Some of the other key Indian legislations
related to wetlands are given below:
Some of the other key Indian organizations
related to wetlands conservation are given in table 2.
Table 2: Key Indian organizations related
to wetlands conservation
Conclusion
In India, wetland
biological systems support different and special territories and are
disseminated across different geographical and climatic systems. They are viewed
as a crucial piece of hydrological cycle and are profoundly useful frameworks
in their normal structures. Wetlands support huge organic variety as well as
give a wide cluster of environment labor and products (Wetlands Rules, 2017).
In India, wetlands offer different types of
assistance, including water systems, water supply to homes, freshwater
fisheries and water for the use of recreation. They are likewise assuming a
significant part to recharge groundwater, controlling floods, sequestration of
carbon and decreasing contamination. Notwithstanding, the board of wetlands has
gotten lacking consideration in the public water area plan. Thus, large numbers
of the wetlands in metropolitan and country regions are dependent upon
anthropogenic tensions, incorporating land-use changes in the catchment;
contamination from industry and families; infringements; the travel industry;
and over abuse of their regular assets.
India being a member of Ramsar Convention on wetlands,
drafted the Wetland (Conversation and Management) Rules in 2017. However, till
date no noteworthy advancement has been made for wise use of wetland and its
conservation. This is because only limited number of wetlands have got received
attention and financial support from the authorities under the Indian wetland
preservation programmes while the left over ones remain to be ignored.
Larger part of exploration work on wetland the board
in India connects with the limnological perspectives and natural/ecological
financial aspects of wetland. Yet, the physical, (for example, hydrological and
land-use changes in the catchment) and financial (like populace development and
changes in monetary exercises) processes prompting limnological changes have
not been investigated significantly. Additional, the formal perspectives
(strategies, rules, guideline and associations) of wetland the executives stand
out enough to be noticed and drawn in the creative mind of exploration
researchers as of late. In this way more examination accentuation on the
physical, financial and institutional variables impacting state of wetlands and
their utilization is expected to show up at better and more extensive
administration systems for wetlands that are confronting developing pressure
from various anthropogenic and climatic elements. The policies for wetland
conservation and management need the overall revival and improvement.
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Article Information
Importance, Conservation, Policies And Status Of Wetlands In India (By-Qazi Mohammed Usmaan & Mohammed Faraz Husain)
Authors: Qazi Mohammed Usmaan, Mohammed Faraz Husain
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2022/09/08
- Volume 2
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
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