Needed: Law to conserve wetlands

Guwahati, June 8 (UNI) Environmentalists and zoological experts of Asom are scurrying for a law to protect the precious wetlands in the state.

''Wetlands are the transitional zones between permanently aquatic and dry terrestrial ecosystems. In a world of evolution, the wetlands are of prime importance, and it is high time to discover their value,'' said noted zoologist Dr PC Bhattacharjee while interacting with the media during an Environment Day programme organised by the Institute of Engineers in Guwahati.

Elaborating on the importance of wetlands, Dr Bhattacharjee said wetland plants sequester carbon from air and act as traps for carbon rich sediments.

''Wetlands will act as next carbon sinks,'' he said, adding that wetlands are more dynamic than forests.

Underlining the need for legal protection of wetlands and their diversity, the zoologist said according to an estimate the value of goods and services of wetlands exceeded 5 to 6 times than that of forests.

However, he rued that wetlands were vanishing rapidly in Asom, due to human interference.

''Deepor Beel was Asom's pride till recently. It was one of the 21 wetlands in India that was declared a protected area by UNESCO.

Today, it's a wasteland of garbage and scavengers are taking over what was once a haven for rare, migratory birds. This year, the numbers of Siberian visitors have drastically gone down and environmentalists fear they may soon not come at all,'' he pointed out.

He said wetlands were among the least protected ecosystems in the developing countries, and India was particularly vulnerable to their degradation and loss.

There are thousands of lakes, ponds, marshes, lagoons, estuaries, backwaters and mangrove swamps that are vital to the country's water needs, food production and biodiversity, but environmental policy has largely failed to acknowledge their contribution. Some of these gaps in research have narrowed with the release of a major scientific report on India's inland wetlands by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON). The study provides enough alarming data to warrant emergency measures by State Governments to reclassify wetlands as protected areas.

The danger signals include high levels of chemical poison residues found in fish consumed by people, loss of water quality and threats to biodiversity.

The gloomy picture that emerges from the SACON report is one of an ecosystem being steadily and silently undermined by a combination of factors - pesticide and fertiliser runoff, state indifference and the inability of communities to do anything in the absence of supporting legislation, such as a National Wetlands Authority.

''It is an irony that these ''wastelands'', which in reality sustain the lives of millions, are treated as insignificant while estimating the value of national economic production.,'' he added.

Wetlands have ''ecosystem goods and service value'' of a scientifically estimated 14,785 dollars per hectare.

They are, in addition, vital for birds. Of the 78 endangered species in India, 55 depend on them (37 threatened species such as the sarus crane and the spot-billed pelican and 18 near threatened species led by the lesser flamingo and the white ibis).

Few years ago a survey identified 75 wetlands in Asom which call for immediate protection, but nothing much has been done further.

''Asom has more than one lakh hectares of wetlands, and we have identified 28 wetlands which are of international importance,'' Dr Bhattacharjee, who was a member of the survey panel, said.

He underscored that it was high time to enact a law for protection of wetlands.

UNI