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Data from Wetlands International shows India has lost nearly two of five wetlands in the last 30 years, while 40% of them can’t support aquatic animals. Most of this degradation is thanks to usual culprits – unplanned infrastructure, pollution, over-exploitation, reclamation. Given that wetlands are vitally important for water storage and aquifer recharge and play the role of storm buffers and flood mitigators, their erosion is bad news on several critical fronts. Wetlands are also natural carbon sinks, making them crucial for combating climate change.

A total of 75 Indian wetlands with a surface area of over a million hectares are designated as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, which India ratified in 1982. But even the largest among them, the Sundarbans wetland, has lost around 25% of its mangroves due to erosion over the past three decades. One of the main culprits for this is reduction in sediments due to upstream dams. Similarly, encroachment and construction on urban wetlands like the Pallikaranai marsh in Chennai have made cities susceptible to flooding. In fact, Vadodara lost 30% of its wetlands between 2005 and 2018, while Hyderabad has lost 55% of its semi-aquatic bodies due to inefficient waste management and unchecked urban development.

True, GOI has notified the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 to serve as a regulatory framework for conservation efforts. But most of the assistance provided by the Centre to states for conservation of wetlands is directed towards the notified Ramsar sites, ignoring urban wetlands. Unless greater awareness is created about the benefits of wetland conservation and urban planning actively incorporates preservation of these bodies – Delhi Master Plan 2041 is a good start – the situation will worsen. Wetlands are natural shock absorbers. We need that protection.

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This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

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