Relevance: GS-3: Conservation, Environmental pollution and degradation, Environmental impact assessment, Disaster and disaster management.

Key Phrases: Environmental degradation, Climate Change, Wetland conservation, Ecosystem Services, Wetlands Change Atlas, Coastal Squeeze, Catastrophic Events, Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats, Ramsar Convention

Context

• Climate change estimates for India indicate rising temperatures, sea level, intensified rainfall, and more catastrophic events.
• Conservation and wise use of wide diversity of inland and coastal wetlands is a powerful climate change response.

Key Highlights:

• As per recent estimates, wetlands in India constitute around 4.86 percent of the country’s geographical area (15.98 million hectares).
• The wetlands change atlas recently published by the Space Application Center indicates declining natural coastal wetlands (reducing from 3.69 million hectares to 3.62 million hectares in the last decade).
• Degradation of wetlands diminishes the landscape's capability to absorb and moderate floods, droughts, and storm surges.
• Floods in the Kashmir Valley in September 2014 and Chennai in December 2015 illustrates how wetland degradation can threaten lives.
• Areas surrounded by urbanised wetlands are expected to lead to a coastal squeeze in the face of sea-level rise ultimately leading to wetland loss.

What are Wetlands?

• Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface, or the land is covered by shallow water.
• Wetlands must have one or more of the following three attributes:
  1. the land supports predominantly hydrophytes atleast periodically;
  2. the substrate is predominantly undrained hydric soil;
  3. the substrate is saturated with water or covered by shallow water at some time during the growing season of each year.

Why are Wetlands Important?

• Wetlands are important features in the landscape that provide numerous beneficial services for people and for fish and wildlife.
• Some of these services, or functions,
  • include protecting and improving water quality,
  • providing fish and wildlife habitats,
  • storing floodwaters and
  • maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.
• Wetlands plays important role in environment conservation.
• These valuable functions are the result of the unique natural characteristics of wetlands.

Wetlands in India:

• Wetlands are spread over 1,52,600 (sq km) which is 4.63 percent of the total geographical area of the country.
• Of the 1,52,600 sq km
  • inland-natural wetlands account for 43.4% and
  • coastal-natural wetlands 24.3%.
• In the State-wise distribution of wetlands
  • Gujarat is at the top with 34,700 sq km or 22.7 percent of total wetlands areas of the country.
  • It is followed by Andhra Pradesh (14,500 sq km), Uttar Pradesh (12,400 sq km), and West Bengal (11,100 sq km).
• India has a network of 49 Ramsar Sites which are the Wetlands of International importance.
• Latest additions to the list are Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh which were added on the occasion of World Wetland day 2022 (2nd January 2022) held at Sultanpur National Park, a Ramsar site in Haryana.

Role of Wetlands in Environment Conservation:

1. Carbon Sequestration:
   • Wetlands assist in the stabilisation of CO2, CH4, N2O, and Green House Gas (GHG) concentrations.
   • They minimize climate and land-use-mediated GHG releases and boost the potential to actively collect CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester carbon.
   • The coastal blue carbon is soaked by mangroves, salt marshes, and sea grasses via photosynthesis and stored in wet anaerobic soils.
   • Peatlands, considered to be one of the world’s largest carbon reserves, are sparse in India and require immediate attention.
2. Soil Conservation:
   • Salt marshes and mangrove swamps are known to accumulate soils vertically.
3. Water Quality:
   • Wetlands act as natural water purifiers, filtering sediment and absorbing many pollutants in surface waters.
   • In some wetland systems, this cleansing function also enhances the quality of groundwater supplies.
4. Reduction of Coastal Storm Damage:
   • Coastal wetlands help to blunt the force of major storms.
   • For example, mangrove forests in Sunderbans reduce flooding, coastal erosion, and property damage during major storms.
5. Flood Control and Stream flow Maintenance:
   • Wetlands along rivers and streams absorb energy and store water during storms, which reduces downstream flood damage and lessens the risk of flash floods.
   • The slow release of this stored water over time can help keep streams flowing during periods of drought.
6. Stream bank Stabilization and Erosion Control:
   • Wetland vegetation binds the soil on stream banks and riparian wetlands, preventing excessive erosion and sedimentation downstream.
7. Habitat for Threatened and Endangered Species:
   • About one-third of all plants and animals listed as threatened or endangered species depend on wetlands for their survival.

What are the Various Wetland Conservation Efforts by India?

1. Glasgow Summit Pledge:
   • India’s emission pledges at the Glasgow summit include
     • net-zero emissions by 2070,
     • reducing carbon emissions by one billion tonnes, and
     • reducing the carbon intensity of the economy to less than 45 percent
   • Including wetlands blue carbon can assist towards this goal, which is presently overlooked in absence of systematic wetland carbon inventories.
2. Management Action Plans:
   • The Ministry of Environment and Forest supports the implementation of management action plans for over 250 wetlands under schemes such as
     • the National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems,
     • Mangroves and Coral Reefs, and
     • Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats.
3. Designation of Ramsar Sites:
   • Towards her commitment to the Ramsar Convention, India has designated 49 Ramsar sites and is likely to expand the list to 75 wetlands.

Way Forward:

1. Avoidance of impacts to wetlands and associated carbon stocks and processes: This is likely to be the most effective management strategy for preventing increases in GHG emissions from wetlands. It includes
   • Carbon storage and GHG emissions from wetlands within the national carbon stock and flux assessments.
   • A detailed inventory of peatlands is much needed.
2. Wetland Monitoring System:
   • Climate risks need to be factored in wetlands management.
   • This can be done by strengthened wetland monitoring systems geared towards the identification of climate risk indicators and trends thereof.
3. Accounting for a full range of Accounting Services:
   • Wetlands are also exposed to adverse impacts on these ecosystems in response to adaptation actions in other sectors.
   • For example, the construction of hydraulic structures to increase freshwater storage in upstream stretches may further accentuate the risks of salinisation in downstream coastal wetlands.
   • It is essential to ensure that conservation action is not led by the role of wetlands in carbon cycles alone, instead takes into account the full range of ecosystem services and biodiversity values of these ecosystems.

Conclusion:

• Climate change and linked drivers and pressures are highly likely to increase the vulnerability of wetlands.
• The government’s efforts fall short of the rapid degradation of wetlands in virtually all parts of the country.
• Only a few States have systematically included wetlands within State Climate Action Plans.
• Integrating wetland conservation and wise use into disaster risk reduction policies and programmes provide “cost-effective” and “no-regrets” options.

Source: The Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. Discuss the role of wetlands in environment conservation and suggest measures for protection of the wetlands. (250 words).