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There is clear water up to your ankles and dragonfly zips past your head as you watch some ducks fly off the water - welcome to the soggy world of the wetland
Source: www.welcomeorissa.com
WETLANDS…………………….
Lands where water saturation is the
dominant factor determining the nature of
soil development and the types of plant
and animal communities living in the
surrounding environment. Other common
names for wetlands are bogs, ponds,
estuaries, and marshes.
FOOD WEB IN A WETLANDECOSYSTEM
Source: www.cas.muohio.edu
Why are wetlands important ?
Wetlands prevent flooding by holding water much like a sponge. By doing so, wetlands help keep river levels normal and filter and purify the surface water. Wetlands accept water during storms and whenever water levels are high. When water levels are low, wetlands slowly release water.
A THREATENED ECOSYSTEM
The increased food production of the past fifty years has led to important losses of wetland ecosystems.
Agriculture now uses 70% of all global water withdrawals; wetlands are drained for cultivation, and threatened by agricultural pollution, through nitrogen, phosphorous, pesticides.
The construction of dams, supporting irrigation development, destroy floodplains, the riparian habitat and species breeding ground.
Another major threat to wetlands comes from new construction and infrastructure development. This threat is likely to increase.
Why do we need to map wetlands?
For the long-term conservation planning of wetlands, spatial data and information is required for any intervention. Wetland eco-system constitute an integral part of cultural and biodiversity landscape of India. It is estimated that 3.5 millions ha exists in the country according to the 1992-1993 study by the Space Application Centre. However, this information pertains to wetlands above 56ha in size. Past research on wetland conservation in the country has shown conclusively that micro wetlands or satellite wetlands around a bigger wetland act as a constellation of habitat mosaic for resident and migratory waterfowl. This is of special importance for inland wetland habitats in the flyways of migratory birds in the Indo-Gangetic plains and in Deccan peninsula. Often, the size of these micro wetlands is much smaller than 50ha Therefore, there is a great need to map wetlands of size smaller than 50ha. Spatial information on wetlands resources is a critical and an urgently needed for an effective conservation of these important eco-system.
The richness and usefulness of the wetlands
was first brought to the notice of the world
by a convention on wetlands held in
Ramsar, an Iranian city situated on the
shores of the Caspian Sea, in 1971.
Front cover of World
Wetland Day 2006 postcard
World Wetland Day 2 nd February.
Number of Ramsar sites in India is
25.
WETLAND CLASSIFICATION SCHEME
INLAND WETLANDS:
Reservoirs.
Tanks.
Abandoned quarries.
Ash pond/cooling pond.
Natural.
Lakes/Ponds.
Oxbow lakes.
Waterlogged (seasonal).
Swamp/marsh.
Playas.
Man made.
Coastal Wetland:
Natural
Estuary.
Lagoon.
Creek.
Bay.
Tidal flat.
Coral reef.
Mangrove.
Artificial
Salt pan.
Aquaculture.
Area Estimates of Wetlands of India
(in million ha)Area under paddy cultivation 40.9
Area suitable for fish culture 3.6
Area under capture fisheries. 2.9
Mangroves 0.4
Estuaries 3.9
Backwater 3.5
Man-made impoundments 3.0
Rivers. (28,000 km)
Canals and irrigation channels (113,000 km)
Types of wetlands. 58.2 (Source: Directory of Asian Wetlands, IUCN, 1995).
Indian Wetlands supporting endangered
fauna.
State Endemic
plants
Threatened
fishes
Threatened
turtlesWest Bengal 5 32 11Tamil Nadu 46 35 4Kerala 65 37 3Karnataka 64 15 2Orissa 6 22 6Andhra Pradesh 13 19 2Gujrat 11 12 1Rajasthan 9 17 3Haryana 0 15 1
Source: wetlandsofindia.org
Common
name
No. of birds No. of sites
(n=591)
No. of states
(n=25)
Baer’s pochard 378 7 4
Baikal teal 35 1 1
Blacknecked
crane* 5 3
Dalmatian
pellican11 20 4
Finn’s weaver 396 1 1
Bristled grass
warbler1 2 2
Source:wetlandsofindia.org
Socio-economic characteristics
of wetlands.
Community dependence on the
Chilika Lake.
Source: www.ias.ac.in
Chilika Lake region has 132 fishing villages with a total population of
more than 10 million.
About 30% (33,3 00) of the fishing village population are active
fishermen, although many others depend indirectly on the fisheries.
There is a large forest area both on the coastal side and around the
lake which quote successfully is being covered by casuarinas (near the
sea shore), eucalyptus and cashew under both a SIDA-supported and
the government's own social forestry programme. But the tribals and
the local communities entirely depend upon the forest to meet their
own fuel requirements and they also cut and sell it in the local market.
The area around the lake, not covered by human settlement and forest, is
under intense farming – mainly cashew in dry land and paddy cultivation in
wetland.
NATIONAL WETLAND STRATEGY
Should encompass
Protection: The primary necessity today is to
protect the existing wetlands. Of the many
wetlands in India, only around 68 wetlands
are protected. But there are thousands of
other wetlands that are biologically and
economically important but have no legal
status.
Planning, Managing and Monitoring:
Wetlands that come under the Protected Area
Network have management plans but others
do not. It is important for various
stakeholders along with the local community
and the corporate sector to come together
for an effective management plan. Active
monitoring of these wetland systems over a
period of time is essential.
Coordinated Approach:
Because Wetlands are common property
with multi-purpose utility, their protection
and management also need to be a common
responsibility. An appropriate forum for
resolving the conflict on wetland issues has
to be set up. It is important for all the
relevant ministries to allocate sufficient
funds towards the conservation of these
ecosystems
Research:
There is a necessity for research in the formulation of a national strategy to understand the dynamics of these ecosystems. This could be useful for the planners to formulate strategies for the mitigation of pollution. The scientific knowledge will help the planners in understanding the economic values and benefits, which in turn will help in. setting priorities and, focusing the planning process.
Building awareness:
For achieving any sustainable success in the
protection of these wetlands, awareness
among the general public, educational and
corporate institutions must be created. The
policy makers at various levels, along with
site managers, need to be educated. Because
the country's wetlands are shared, the bi-
lateral cooperation in the resource
management needs to be enhanced.
REFERENCES
The environment by Chris Park.
Ecology and environment by B.P.Pandey.
WWF-India newsletter.Issue I -2006.
www.wetlandsofindia.org
www.edugreen.teri.edu
www.ramsar.org
www.chilika.com