Shrinking wetlands

It is established wisdom amongst concerned authorities that it is far more cost-effective to maintain the health of an ecosystem as opposed to the restoration of an unhealthy one.

But just how concerned are these 'concerned' authorities in regard to the state of the environment, specifically the wetlands?

Wetlands are the most productive type of ecosystems in the world that provide food, agricultural production, fisheries, water quality maintenance and recreation. Furthermore, they vitally serve as one of the key life support systems on Earth, acting to purify water, control floods, replenish groundwater and recycle nutrients. These waters support biological productivity and serve as habitats for a wide diversity of species. All these benefits or services that wetland ecosystems provide are essential for people's livelihoods, particularly in developing countries like India. Still, even given all these well-documented benefits, wetlands are consistently being destroyed, devastated, contaminated and converted to other types of land at a rate more rapid than any other ecosystem. Moreover, ecosystem services provided by wetlands are not being adequately advertised in commercial markets and as a result, are not adequately valued as part of development decisions in India.

India has about 757,060 wetlands with a total wetland area of 15.3 million hectares which accounts for nearly 4.7 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. Out of this, areas classified as inland wetlands account for 69 per cent, coastal wetlands account for 27 per cent, and other wetlands (smaller than 2.25 hectares) stand at 4 per cent. Among them, 26 sites have been designated as wetlands of international importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 689,131 hectares covering the districts of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. A majority of the wetlands that occur in human-dominated landscapes remain acutely threatened by alarming levels of degradation and loss in many cities in India such as Kolkata. Degradation of east Kolkata Wetland (EKW) designated as "Ramsar Site" is further aggravated by social inequalities and poor planning amplifying the environmental pressures of economic expansion.

As per estimates, in 2010, the aforementioned wetland received 0.7-1.0 million cubic meters per day of wastewater from Kolkata while producing 16,000 tonnes of rice, 30,000-50,000 tonnes of vegetables and around 8000 tonnes of fish in that year besides its vital role of cleaning up and treating wastewater. Thereby, the traditional practice of utilising wastewater for fisheries and agriculture in wetlands is a unique example of sustainable socio-economic development pertaining to resource recovery in the present scenario of economic recession and pollution problems. But at present, encroachment of wetland, land-use changes, silt accumulation, proliferation of invasive species and discharge of unauthorised highly contaminated wastewater to the drains have caused, as observed during our studies, a level of pollutant load in wetlands which far exceeds their capacity to retain pollutants and remove them through nitrification, sedimentation, adsorption, and uptake by aquatic plants across the country. This adversely affects among other things the wetland water quality, vegetables and crops which get contaminated, the cradles of biodiversity and key constituents of our environment. Researchers, on the basis of studies conducted on developments in environmental governance and urban ecology, advocate that understanding complex eco-social dynamics, convoluted policy processes and social equity concerns are imperative for effective environmental management.

Despite the enforcement of various rules and regulations by different regulatory authorities, many wetlands continue to be encroached for construction of buildings and flyovers for the urbanisation and exponential growth of real-estate markets (in the name of public interest) without addressing the adverse impact on the ecosystem service delivery. Then what is this 'public interest' that is often spoken of and for whose benefit does it exist? Practically speaking, this 'public interest' is meant for the corporations who are interested only in developing infrastructure by reducing the wetland at the 'expensive' cost of depriving the local community. The concerned authorities do not realise the importance of holistically analysing the complex eco-social systems of these wetlands as dictated by the guidelines of the Ramsar convention and the variety of roles played by the local community in exploring the different strands of urban ecological ecosystems. Moreover, environment regulation authorities in the Centre and states are just barely equipped enough to evaluate the environmental burden contributed by point sources, conversion of wetland, water quality and introduction of invasive species but not the complicated stress factors such as urbanisation of watersheds, hydrological alteration and non-point sources pollution. Thereby, the complex nature of ecological transformation in the wetlands remains elusive.

Though conservation programs stipulated by East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority (EKWMA, formed under the EKW Act) dealing with boundary demarcation, wetland character detection, pollution measures, awareness programs and biodiversity conservation are in place, the urban wetlands are still continuously shrinking. Though wetland degradation is more complex in EKW where social inequalities and poor planning may be attributed to an increase in the significant environmental burden on the wetland ecosystem, there is, all the same, an urgent need to evaluate the developmental plans to ensure that they adhere to wetland conservation policies. Technically, in addition to EKWMA, the wetlands come under several legal institutions including the KMDA, the West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) which is concerned with urban development, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) that is concerned with cleanliness of the environment, and the Department of Fisheries, West Bengal. Strategically, EKWMA framed cross-sectoral policy integration, conservation, community participation, etc., but another authority, KMDA – with the political support of the Ministry of Urban Development and financial support of the state, central and corporate – can supersede the decision taken by Wetlands Authority. Thereby, EKWMA is not in the position of policy advocacy in other sectors. Similarly, the Department of Fisheries (West Bengal) does not possess adequate infrastructure in order to evaluate the urban-specific problems of the wastewater fishery in the EKW. Though the monitoring of wastewater passing through the canal in EKW is being carried out by WBPCB, the actual dynamics of these pollutants remain elusive.

At present, the protection of cultural values and community use of wetlands as well as conservation and restoration of wetland are the emergent needs. According to the Ramsar Convention, policy integration and integrated planning by institutional arrangement must be encouraged. In addition to these arrangements, local communities and NGOs who are trying their best to protect the degradation of ecological features in an urbanised landscape must be included alongside more formal institutions.

Dr Debapriya Mukherjee is a former Senior Scientist, Central Pollution Control Board. Views expressed are strictly personal