Environmental Impact Assessment

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands defines wetlands as “areas of marsh, fen, peat, and 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 meters.”
Wetlands include rivers, marshes, bogs, mangroves, mudflats, ponds, swamps, billabongs, lagoons, lakes, and floodplains are critical in performing regulating and provisioning services such as:

• Climate mitigation and adaptation
  • They act as flood and storm buffers by storing the excess water and helping prevent floods and droughts and thus contributing to the climate mitigation and adaptation.
  • Carbon capture and storage performed by the wetlands such as mangroves and marshes is more than in any other ecosystem. For example, the peatlands alone store more than twice the amount of carbon than all the world’s forests.
• Protecting and conserving biodiversity
  • Wetlands are transition zones between marine/aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems thus they are rich reservoirs of biodiversity for flora and fauna, including threatened species. For example, Chilika lake, Keibul Lamjao lake etc.
  • Wetlands are key habitats for migratory birds. For example, birds from several routes migrate to the lakes of India in the winter months through the Central Asian Flyway (CAF).
  • The flood plains of northeast India and southern India have played a critical role in the protection of traditional farming practices and indigenous plant varieties.
• Health-related services
  • Wetlands act as water purifiers and filter the polluted water that ultimately becomes fit for human consumption.
  • Wetlands are known as nature’s pharmacy and several wetland’s plants such as Brahmi, Water clover, Keerharnelli, Lakshman booti etc. are known to have medicinal properties.

Despite their huge importance, wetlands are declining all over the world at three times the rates of forests. There are multiple mechanisms and initiatives for wetlands conservation and management in India as follows:

• Legislative framework: India has various laws in place such as Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, Water Pollution Act, 1974, Environment Protection Act, 1986, Forest Conservation Act, 1986 etc. which empower the Central and State governments to take measures for the conservation and management of wetlands.
• International Conventions: India is a party to the Ramsar Convention that provides support to the party states for scientific management and sustainable use of wetlands and their resources. India has 75 such sites under the Ramsar List.
• Assessment and mapping of wetlands: By using GIS technology, mapping and assessment of India’s wetlands are being carried out through the National Wetland Inventory and Assessment (NWIA) and the National Wetlands Change Atlas.
• National Wildlife Action Plan: It envisages the conservation of inland aquatic ecosystems as one of the 17 priority areas while recommending the development of a National Wetlands Mission and a National Wetlands Biodiversity Register.
• Wetlands Rejuvenation Initiative: This involves developing the baseline information, rapid assessment of wetlands’ health, stakeholder involvement through wetlands Mitras, and management planning.

The Wetlands Change Atlas 2022 attributes the decline of wetlands in India due to multiple reasons such as catchment degradation, alteration of hydrological regimes, pollution, invasive species, over- harvesting, unregulated tourism, and climate change. To ensure that the wetlands continue to deliver the vital ecosystem services that humanity requires, their prioritization, protection, restoration, better management, and monitoring are needed.