Saving Wetlands in
J&K – Need of the Hour
About
ten lakh migratory birds recently left for their
summer sojourn across continents after having lived winter months in the
wetlands of Jammu and Kashmir to escape harsh cold weather back
home. These wetlands
fall along the Central Asian flyway of winter migratory birds and are thus an
important ecosystem supporting equally important biodiversity.
Wetlands
are essential for maintaining bio-diversity, water harvesting and water
availability. As elsewhere the wetlands play an important role in the economic
activities of the people in Jammu and Kashmir. Take the case of
the state’s largest
wetland, Wular Lake, which constitutes an important ecosystem in the valley and supports a lot of bio diversity. Besides
being a huge reservoir of water and a rich repository of macrophytic
vegetation and winter asylum to migratory birds, the lake provides livelihood to
thousands of locals by contributing sixty per cent of the total fish catch in
the valley as well as other products harvested from its waters.
The
State is having 29 wetlands, 16 in Kashmir, eight in Jammu and five in Ladakh. Around 106 species of birds nestle in
these wetlands including 25 species of land birds who visit them
occasionally. The
importance of these wetlands increases as they provide sanctuary to migratory
birds some of them belonging to the endangered species. According to a survey of J&K
wetlands, two near extinct species, White-eyed Pochard
was found in seven wetlands in the state and Ibis in two wetlands in Jammu. The survey added that
two endangered species Blacknecked Crane and Sarus Crane were spotted in wetlands in Ladakh
and the Gharana wetland in Jammu region respectively.
Many of these wetlands
are shrinking, a consequence of human greed and the pressures caused by rapid
population growth. “We used
to have 600 small and big wetlands around Kashmir valley. Now there are only 10 to 15 wetlands left
and they too are on the verge of extinction”, said a senior functionary in the
Centre for Environmental Law.
In the vast arid Jammu region, the scenario is no better with Nanga
Wetland Reserve (1.21 sq km) in Ramgarh sector and Sangral Wetland Reserve (0.68 sq km) in Abdulliyan
sector having totally vanished while many others have been severely reduced in
size.
Sarpanch of Nanga village said
that no migratory birds visit the area now. He added, “Huge wetland existed
here about 25 years ago. It was a vast pond which has completely dried out.
Elders told us flocks of migratory birds used to arrive in winters but with the
passage of time inhabitants started using the land for cultivation and birds
started ignoring wetland due to increased human activity.”
The conflict between man
and nature is responsible for the dismal scenario. Reports suggest that local people over
the years have been opposed to the coming of birds alleging that they damaged
crops.
These water bodies could
not be saved even after being declared as reserved wetlands way back in 1981.
At the Gharana wetland, which is of late emerging as
an eco-tourist attraction, the
villagers used to scare away the birds. But since 2003, situation has improved.
The Wild Life Department has also been persuading locals not to resist the
arrival of birds. The Department has been trying its best to get the maximum
cooperation from the villagers by trying to provide compensation to the
farmers, who suffer loss of crops,” said a Wildlife Warden, Jammu. The end result of all such
measures has been to save the wetlands which have been facing decline.
Unchecked
deforestation causing soil erosion and silting, human encroachments in and
around the water bodies and apathetic attitude and unimaginative policies of
the concerned authorities have led to the degradation and shrinking of area of
wetlands, feel experts. They
point out to Bemina residential colony, which, they
say, used to be a wonderful wetland on the outskirts of Srinagar till the end of the 19thcentury. They add that this apathy continues
and cite the case of Rakh Arath,
a wetland, which is being filled for rehabilitating people living inside the Dal Lake.
“Not
only people at individual level, but also the government at regulatory level
interfered with wetlands. They
changed the land use pattern not only within the wetlands, but also in the
catchments….There was also reclamation process going on at individual and
government level. All that resulted in the shrinking of wetlands and changed
the environment of wetlands. When
the environment changed, the habitat changed. That also impacted the birds
which had a particular type of habitat in the wetlands”, said Prof. A. R. Yousuf of Central Wetlands Regulatory Authority.
The
state's two premier wetlands, Wular lake and Mirgund have been reduced to one-third of their original
size to 58.71 sq kms and 1.5 sq kms
respectively. "Wular, an internationally
recognized wetland, was one of our best wetlands but in 1950s, 1960s and 1970s
government authorities constructed dams around this water body and also
reclaimed a large chunk of lake and started willow plantations. People also started cultivation of
paddy in the erstwhile wetland area,” said Prof Yousuf.
The jewel in Kashmir’s splendid beauty, Dal Lake too has suffered from
devastating impact of human greed and negligence. It has also drastically shrunk from 75 sq kms area to a mere 12 sq kms
while another important wetland Haigam has been
reduced to almost half of its size of 7.25 sq kms,
with other wetlands also facing the same fate.
The impending extinction threats have forced the Central and State
governments to initiate action. The
State government has launched some major initiatives complimented by the Centre
to conserve the water bodies in view of their ecological and
economic importance. “To sustain state’s tourism and safeguard economic resources
the conservation of water bodies, forest wealth and bio-diversity of state is
the need of the hour”, says the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Realizing the unique hydrological and socio-economic values of the Wullar Lake, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests included it in its Wetlands Programme as a Wetland of National Importance in 1986. Subsequently, the lake was
designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1990. Besides the Wullar and Hokersar, three other wetlands in Jammu and Kashmir, namely, Tsomoriri in Ladakh and Mansar and Surinsar lakes in Jammu division have been listed under the Ramsar Convention in order to protect and conserve
them. The Union Environment
Ministry has also listed them as protected by prohibiting constructions,
setting up of industries in the vicinity and dumping of any waste or discharge
of untreated effluents from industries or human settlements into them. It also
set up the 12 member Central Wetlands Regulatory Authority over a year
ago to implement and
review an elaborate set of rules in this regard besides identifying wetlands
across the country for conservation.
The State government has too been making efforts to save the water
bodies which Chief Minister Omar Abdullah termed as ‘icons of our heritage, for
which the entire people of the state feel concerned.’ A number of reports and
action plans have appeared in recent years to come to terms with the problem of
these lakes.
Responding to the urgency of the situation, the State Government set up several authorities
namely the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA), the Wullar Manasbal Development Authority (WMDA) etc. to clean and conserve the lakes. As the LAWDA has been
mainly engaged in regenerating Dal Lake and WMDA in conserving the Manasbal lake, the State Government has decided to constitute Wular Development Authority for according focused attention
to resurrect the Wular lake.
All these efforts would bear fruit provided there
is peoples’ active cooperation. That is a crucial factor
as has been seen in the conservation of Manasbal lake. Awareness has to
be created on mass scale and authorities have to be sensitive to the problems
of people displaced in the process. There has to be a peoples movement harmonized
by the NGOs and media to complement the official effort. It may be a long and
difficult way but will have to be treaded upon to save these ‘icons of
heritage’ for ensuring healthy environment and safeguarding economic interests
of local population.
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