The well-attended illustrated lecture by Dr. Asad R. Rahmani, Director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), was the first in the series on ‘Understanding Nature’ organised by the BNHS in collaboration with the IIC Nature Group. The lecture held special significance as Dr. Rahmani’s book Potential and Exisiting Ramsar Sites in India, had been released by the Vice- President of India, Shri Hamid Ansari, barely ten days earlier.
Dr. Rahmani began the lecture by rightly describing wetlands as ‘liquid treasures’ of the country. He was of the firm opinion that wetlands and not oil wells deserved the status of liquid gold. Wetlands are the life support systems of humans and wildlife. They are complex ecosystems and are reservoirs of biodiversity. A diverse range of life forms, from the muddy bottoms to the air space above them, call wetlands their home. Many communities like farmers and fisherfolk are dependent on them for subsistence and livelihood needs. They are also invaluable for the ecosystem services they provide which we conveniently take for granted. These services include water storage, groundwater recharge, water purification, soil retention and flood control. These wetland services assume an even greater significance when seen in the context of mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change.
Despite our dependence on them, wetlands all over the world are under severe threat. Many are drained and transformed for residential, commercial and agricultural uses. Dumping of sewage, industrial chemicals and pesticide/fertilizer run-off continues to pollute many of our freshwater wetlands. Construction of canals and dams have altered the course of rivers and streams leading to degradation of wetlands dependent on them. Water politics involving upstream and downstream stakeholders further exacerbate the problem.
Dr. Rahmani quoted a recent study that confirmed that wetlands hold 20 per cent of the world’s carbon and their destruction would be akin to unleashing a ‘carbon bomb’. He also blamed the extinction of migratory bird species like the Pink-Headed Duck and the Central Asian population of the Siberian Crane on our callous attitude towards wetlands.
To address these threats to the world’s wetlands, the Ramsar Convention (officially known as the ‘Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat’) came into force in 1971 in the Iranian town of Ramsar. It is the first inter-government treaty on conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. The original emphasis of the Convention was to promote the conservation and wise use of wetlands primarily as a habitat for waterbirds.
India has been a signatory of the Convention since 1981. The Convention requires all its member countries to designate a minimum of one wetland as a Ramsar site. Since 1981, India has designated 25 of its wetlands as Ramsar Sites. Dr. Rahmani argued that this small number does not represent even a fraction of the diversity of wetland habitats found in the country. He was keen that all the bio-geographic regions of India be adequately represented to provide a holistic approach to our wetland wealth.
The speaker went on to describe the criteria laid down for designation of wetlands as Ramsar sites. There are nine criteria under which wetlands qualify for Ramsar site status. He succinctly summed them up in a single sentence: they must be unique and must support distinct life forms. He stated that uniqueness and not size of the wetland had a greater role in deciding if it qualified for Ramsar status. To support his argument, he gave examples of underground caves in Slovenia and sandpits of Europe that qualified for Ramsar status.
Closer home, he mentioned one of India’s newest Ramsar sites, the Upper Ganga River, unique for its Ganges River Dolphin and Gharial populations, as a case study. Examples of man-made Ramsar wetlands were also given such as the rice fields of Vietnam. Dr. Rahmani observed that even small pools in tea estates in north-east India served as a refuge for the rare White-Winged Duck. He also illustrated parallels between the Ramsar sites and Important Bird Areas (IBA) criteria. Of the 160 wetlands described by Dr. Rahmani in his book, 144 of them are IBAs.
Dr. Rahmani cited a few examples of how wetlands in India have been destroyed as a result of misconceived management. Lack of scientific approach by the wetlands managers could have serious repercussions on the very existence of wetlands. He stressed on the need for a clear National Wetland Policy and implementation of existing guidelines on wetland management. This must involve a wide range of stakeholders from different government agencies dealing with Agriculture, Irrigation, Power, Environment and Forests, as well as NGOs, scientists and local communities. There is also need to quantify the ecosystem and livelihood benefits provided by wetlands to convince decision-makers to release more funds for their management. Wetlands conservation must be incorporated into urban land use planning and disaster management strategies. Existing legislation on water resources must not be diluted but used effectively to prevent unsustainable activities in and around wetlands.
In the discussions that followed, it was agreed that Conventions and legislation alone cannot conserve our wetlands. Intelligent planning, informed decision-making, cooperation between government agencies, sound science, traditional knowledge and a concerned civil society are all equally vital for the survival of our wetland wealth.