Wetland Conservation

Table of Contents

Context: The Supreme Court has sought the Centre’s response on a plea to protect the enhanced wetland areas which act as a natural protection from floods.

Wetlands

What are Wetlands?

Wetlands are defined as: “lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic eco-systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water”.
Often called “nature’s kidneys” and “nature’s supermarket”, wetlands support millions of people by providing food, and water, and controlling floods and storm surges.

Types of Wetlands

Coastal Wetlands:
- Coastal wetlands are found in the areas between land and open sea that are not influenced by rivers such as shorelines, beaches, mangroves and coral reefs.
- Eg: mangrove swamps found in sheltered tropical coastal areas.
Marshes: These are wetlands that are permanently flooded or flooded during high water periods at the edges of rivers, streams, lakes, or ponds.
Sedge meadows (or wet meadows): These are wetlands with permanently or near-permanently saturated soils. They may form a transitional zone between marshes and other wetlands with less-saturated soils, or around groundwater discharge zones.
Fens and seeps: These are wetlands that are fed by groundwater that “seeps” out to the soil’s surface.
Bogs: These are basin wetlands for which precipitation is the only source of water; they are typically not fed by surfacing groundwater or streams.
Swamps: These are wetlands dominated by woody vegetation that typically have standing water during at least certain times of the year.

Ecosystem services provided by wetlands

Provisioning Services:
- Water source: Wetlands can remove impurities from water, providing a drinking water source.
- Raw materials: Wetland soils are fertile and could be used for farming.
Regulating:
- Water regulation: Wetlands store water, helping to prevent floods and to provide water during times of drought.
- Climate regulation: Wetlands are source and sink for greenhouse gases; influences local and regional temperature; precipitation, and other climatic processes.
- Natural hazard regulation: Flood control and storm protection.
Supporting Services:
- Nutrient cycling: Microorganisms in wetlands can remove excess nutrients from the water.
- Photosynthesis: Plants within wetlands can acts as oxygen source (and carbon sink).

Importance of Wetlands

Highly Productive Ecosystems: Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems that provide the world with nearly two-third of fish harvest.
Integral Role in the Ecology of the Watershed: The combination of shallow water, high levels of nutrients are ideal for the development of organisms that form the base of the food web and feed many species of fish, amphibians, shellfish and insects.
Carbon Sequestration: Wetlands’ microbes, plants and wildlife are part of global cycles for water, nitrogen and sulphur. Wetlands store carbon within their plant communities and soil instead of releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Lowering Flood Heights and Reduces Soil Erosion: Wetlands function as natural barriers that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt, groundwater and flood waters. Wetland vegetation also slow the speed of flood waters lowering flood heights and reduces soil erosion.
Critical to Human and Planet Life: More than one billion people depend on them for a living and 40% of the world’s species live and breed in wetlands.

Threats faced by Wetlands

Wetlands face a range of challenges that jeopardize their existence and ecological functions.

Urbanization Pressure: Wetlands located near urban areas are increasingly at risk due to the demand for residential, industrial, and commercial development. Encroachment, both planned and unplanned, poses a significant threat to their survival.
Pollution: Wetlands act as natural filters, but they are susceptible to pollution. While they can effectively remove fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural runoff, they are unable to address pollutants such as mercury from industrial sources and other forms of pollution. This pollution not only affects the wetland ecosystems but also endangers the quality of drinking water supplies.
Agricultural Conversion: Extensive wetland areas have been converted into agricultural fields, particularly for paddy cultivation. The construction of reservoirs, canals, and dams to support irrigation has significantly altered the hydrology of associated wetlands, disrupting their natural functions.
Climate Change: Wetlands are sensitive to the impacts of climate change, including increased air temperatures, shifts in precipitation patterns, more frequent extreme weather events (such as storms, droughts, and floods), elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and rising sea levels. These changes can disrupt the delicate balance of wetland ecosystems.
Dredging: Dredging, which involves the removal of material from wetland or riverbed areas, poses a threat to wetlands. It lowers the water table in surrounding areas and can lead to the drying out of adjacent wetlands, disrupting their ecological integrity.
Draining: Wetlands are drained by the creation of ditches that collect and divert water away from the wetland. This process lowers the water table within the wetland, resulting in its desiccation and degradation.

Wetland International Report Estimates

Key Highlights from the Wetland Degradation Report

Wetland degradation: According to the estimates, India has lost nearly two of five wetlands in the last 30 years, while 40% of them can’t support aquatic animals.

Major causes of degradation:

Unplanned urbanization: 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.
Erosion: The largest wetland in India, the Sunderbans 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.
Waste disposal: Due to lack of knowledge on wetlands and their ecosystem, most wetlands end up being abused as sites of waste disposal, resulting in their widespread loss.
Reclamation: Reclamation activities have caused massive declines in coastal wetland areas. With the increasing human activities, the coastal wetland ecosystems were destroyed or replaced by a drained and impervious surface.

Impacts of Degradation:

Flood vulnerability: Degeneration of urban wetlands due to unplanned development compromises the landscape’s resilience to floods. For example, 2015 Chennai floods.
Current scenario of protection: India presently has around 2.2 lakh big wetlands covering over 2.2 hectares and 5.5 lakh smaller ones.
- Of these, nearly 60,000 big wetlands are situated inside protected forest areas which could be deemed as safe.
- Of the remaining, conservation work has been carried out on 150 to 200 water bodies so far.
- 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.

Initiatives for Wetland Conservation

Global Efforts:

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands:
- The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty that promotes the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands.
- It was adopted in 1971 and came into force in 1975.
- The convention provides a framework for national action and international cooperation to protect wetland ecosystems.
- It currently has 171 member countries.
Montreux Record:
- The Montreux Record is a register of wetland sites that are on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance and are facing or are likely to face ecological changes.
- The record serves as a tool to identify sites requiring special attention and conservation efforts.
World Wetlands Day:
- Celebrated on February 2nd each year, World Wetlands Day raises awareness about the value of wetlands and the need for their conservation.
- It provides an opportunity to promote the conservation and wise use of wetlands at a global level.
Decade on Ecosystem Restoration:
- The United Nations declared 2021-2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
- This initiative aims to mobilize global efforts to restore and conserve ecosystems, including wetlands, to enhance their ecological functions and promote sustainable development.
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN):
- The IUCN plays a significant role in wetland conservation through various initiatives.
- It provides technical expertise, promotes research, develops conservation strategies, and advocates for the protection of wetland ecosystems at the global level.
Global Environment Facility (GEF): The GEF supports wetland conservation projects worldwide.
- It provides financial assistance and technical expertise to promote sustainable management practices, restore degraded wetlands, and strengthen the capacity of countries to protect and conserve wetland ecosystems.Bottom of Form

National Efforts:

Statutory Protection: In India, the wetlands are regulated under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.
Action Plan of MoEFCC: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) supports the implementation of management action plans for over 250 wetlands under schemes such as National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems, Mangroves and Coral Reefs, and Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats.