Wetlands drying up in 14 states

It’s not just the Bharatpur Bird sanctuary dying a slow death, a study has found that 38 per cent of India’s inland wetlands have ...

It’s not just the Bharatpur Bird sanctuary dying a slow death, a study has found that 38 per cent of India’s inland wetlands have dried up in the last ten years.

The Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) study, which was released in the form of a book — Inland Wetlands of India: Conservation Priorities— has found that the loss of wetlands in some districts of Rajasthan is a startling 99.6 per cent. In other areas ,the loss is up to 88 per cent.

The study found that the number of wetlands

had reduced from 2,76,940 to 2,92,327 between 1991 and 2001. It looked at 72 districts in 14 states and found 38 per cent of wetlands had been converted into landfill sites.

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The decline ranged from 17 per cent in Andhra to 96 per cent in Gujarat. ‘‘Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu are the worst affected. Some areas have been turned into landfill sites, in some areas, the rainfall pattern has changed and trees have been planted,’’ said Dr V.S. Vijayan, director of SACON.

Dr Vijayan added that Bharatpur is an example of how wetlands are disappearing across the country. ‘‘Wetland conservation can’t be taken in isolation. Bharatpur sanctuary needs water but villagers need the water for irrigation. There is a conflict. There should be a national vision policy to address this,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘There is no coordination… other stakeholders like agriculture and tourism should be involved.’’

Another reason for decline of Bharatpur and other wetlands is that there is no policy or act governing wetlands in the country. ‘‘We have an act for forest and wildlife but not for wetlands. Bureaucrats and administrators don’t realise… We have discussed with the ministry and they said there is no legal protection for wetlands,’’ he said.