Measures for protection of Wetlands Audit of emerging environment issues International Centre for Environmental Audit and Sustainable Development 8th to 12th June, 2015 Parineeta Dandekar South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People sandrp.wordpress.com, www.sandrp.in [email protected] Section I: Introduction to Wetlands and their importance What are Wetlands? • Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010: “Wetland means an area of marsh, fen, peatland or water; natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters and includes all inland waters such as lakes, reservoir, tanks, backwaters, lagoon, creeks, estuaries and man made wetland and the zone of direct influence on wetland that is to say the drainage area or catchment region of the wetlands as determined by the authority but does not include main river channels, paddy fields and coastal wetlands covered under” the MEF notification of Feb 19, 1991 • Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season (EPA) • Wetlands come in many types, in many sizes and in many forms: High altitude lakes, bogs, swamps, marshes to rivers, floodplains, ox bows, deltas, estuaries, lagoons, flooded forests, to even dams, tanks, rice paddies, and even shallow marine shelves and coral reefs: All are some or the other type of Wetlands. • Wetlands are highly variable and dynamic: they are water bodies but also include land. Their size varies according to the season. • They are freshwater, brackish or saline, inland or coastal, seasonal or permanent, natural or man- made. • Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971): “Wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.” • Ramsar Classification includes: Permanent inland deltas, Permanent rivers/streams/creeks; includes waterfalls, Seasonal/intermittent/irregular rivers/streams/creeks http://accad.osu.edu/womenandtech/2007/research_web_pages/Ecosystem/2007ecosystemplants.html Why are Wetlands important? • Wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems of the world! Some call them the Kidneys of the planet because of their energy dissipation and purification qualities. • Millennium Ecosystem Assessment estimates that wetlands cover 7% of earth’s surface and deliver 45% of the world’s natural productivity and ecosystem services. Benefits of these are estimated at $20 trillion a year! (Source: www.MAweb.org) • Despite these benefits, wetlands are the first target of human interference and are among the most threatened of all natural ecosystems. • Around 50% of the earth’s wetlands are estimated to already have disappeared worldwide over the last hundred years! • The ‘full value’ of ecosystem functions of Wetlands is ignored in policy-making, plans and corporate evaluations of development projects • India has lost as much as 38% of its wetlands in just the decade between 1991-2001 (SACON) A “breathtaking” sentence from the Wetland Rules, 2010 “Wetlands are vital parts of hydrological cycle, are highly productive, support exceptionally high biological diversity and provide a wide range of ecosystem services such as waste assimilation, water purification, flood mitigation, erosion control, ground water recharge, micro climate regulation, aesthetic enhancement of the landscape while simultaneously supporting many significant recreational, social and cultural activities, besides being a part of the cultural heritage" Importance of Wetlands Water supply: • Drinking, Irrigation, Industries, Commercial, Navigation, Hydropower, etc., • Example: About 2 lakh farmers depend on Vembnad Kol Wetland in Kerala for irrigation • About 6 lakh people depend on Bhopal Lakes for water supply • Loktak Lake is the reservoir for the Loktak HEP • Food in form of fisheries, rice paddies, aquatic plants, Kamalkakdi, Nadru, Makhana, Singada, etc. (over two thirds of the world’s fish harvest is linked to the health of coastal and inland wetland areas) • Loktak Lake provides livelihoods to more than 1 lakh fisherfolk • Chilika Lake provides livelihoods to more than 2 lakh fisherfolk (http://www.netfishmpeda.org/publications/pdf/papers-articles/Chilka-Achievements-in-Fishing- chimes.pdf) • Wetlands have special cultural value as well: they are related to religious and cosmological beliefs, constitute a source of aesthetic inspiration and form the basis of important local traditions. • “Total economic value of unconverted wetlands is often greater than converted wetlands.” Harvesting Nadru (Lotus stem) at Dal Lake Harvesting Nadru (Lotus stem) at Dal Lake Prayer flags at Tso Moriri Salt resistant rice in Vembnad Kol Wetland: Kerala Photo: Scroll.in Fishing in Loktak Lake, Manipur Photo: Seven Sisters Post Bhitarkanika Wetlands Odisha Photo: walkthroughIndia.com Water purification and detoxification of wastes • Wetlands, and in particular marshes, play a major role in treating and detoxifying wastes. • Natural wetlands, such as riparian wetlands, reduce nutrient load by removing nitrate and phosphorus from surface and subsurface runoff (Verhoeven et al., 2006). • Some wetlands have been found to reduce the concentration of nitrate by more than 80%. • Wetlands are low cost measure to reduce point and non-point pollution (Bystrom et al., 2000) • East Kolkata Wetlands, also a Ramsar Site, are a remarkable example of sewage treatment by a wetland ecosystem • Constructed Wetlands are being used in several places to treat sewage ecologically Flood Control • Wetlands play an important role in flood control. Wetlands help lessen the impacts of flooding by absorbing water and reducing the speed at which flood water flows. • During periods of flooding, they trap suspended solids and nutrient load. • They are considered to be a natural capital substitute for conventional flood control investments such as dykes, dams, and embankments (Boyd and Banzhaf, 2007). • “Kashmir Floods of 2014 can be termed as an ecological disaster. The disastrous damage caused to life and property could have been minimised if the large number of wetlands that once existed in the valley, had been preserved," eminent naturalist and BNHS director Dr Asad Rahmani said in a statement. “Even the British and former Maharajas of Kashmir used to consider Wular as a buffer for the floods where excess water can be absorbed.” • Wular Lake was once spread across 20,200 hectares, now remains restricted to 2,400 hectares. • In the last 30 years, nearly 50 per cent of the wetlands in the Kashmir valley have been encroached upon or severely damaged : BNHS • “Dredging of the blocked channels, de-weeding, creation of reed belt, development of shoreline, establishment of aerators and carrying of fresh water from streams to the lake need to be done on scientific lines for stopping degradation of the lake. • “Rehabilitation and resettlement programme of the lake-dwellers needs to be given top most priority.” - Dal Lake Management Audit, CAG 2010-11 Mitigation of climate change • Sea level rise and increases in storm surges will result in erosion, increased salinity of estuaries and freshwater aquifers, altered tidal ranges in rivers and bays, changes in sediment and nutrient transport, and increased coastal flooding. • Wetlands, such as mangroves and floodplains, play a critical role in the physical buffering of climate change impacts • A study on the Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem in Orissa (second largest mangrove forest of India mainland), estimated that cyclone damage avoided was highest in the village that was protected by mangrove forests. • The loss incurred per household was greatest (US$ 153.74) in the village that was not sheltered by mangroves and lowest (US$ 33.31) in the village that was protected by mangrove forests (Badola and Hussain, 2005). • Cultural services: Wetlands provide significant aesthetic, educational, cultural, and spiritual benefits, as well as a vast array of opportunities for recreation and tourism. Wetlands as Climate Regulators • One of the most important roles of wetlands is regulation of global climate change through sequestering and releasing a major proportion of fixed carbon in the biosphere. • Wetlands sequester C through high rates of organic matter inputs and reduced rates of decompositions (Pant et al., 2003). Wetland soils may contain as much as 200 times more C than its vegetation. • Carbon sequestration potential of restored wetlands (over 50 year period) comes out to be about 0.4 tonnes C/ha/year (IPCC, 2000) • Mangroves are able to sequester about 1.5 tonne C/ha/year • Drainage of large areas of wetlands and their subsequent cultivation at many places had made them a net source of CO2 • Coastal wetlands are playing a major role in carbon sequestration. (Kathiresan and Thakur, 2008) Habitat for biodiversity • Wetlands continue to provide refuge to some of our most threatened species from Gangetic Dolphins, Gharial, Swamp Crocodiles, Black Necked Cranes, several species of amphibians and fish, mangroves, Bengal Florican, etc., • Though wetlands support maximum biodiversity for any ecosystem, the rate of their decline is also the fastest in the world, as in India. Section II Wetlands