Relevance:

• GS 3 || Environment || Environment & Ecology || Pollution

Understanding all about Wetlands and related issues in India:

Conservation Efforts by India:

• National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA): NPCA is a single conservation programme for both wetlands and lakes. It is a centrally sponsored scheme currently being implemented by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change.
• Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules,2017:
  • Decentralise wetlands management by giving states powers to not only identify and notify wetlands within their jurisdictions but also keep a watch on prohibited activities.
  • It also indirectly widens the ambit of permitted activities in wetlands by inserting the `wise use’ principle, giving powers to state-level wetland authorities to decide what can be allowed in larger interest.
  • The Centre’s role will be restricted to monitoring its implementation by states UTs, recommending transboundary wetlands for notification and reviewing integrated management of selected wetlands under the Ramsar Convention.

Suggestions:

• Digital inventories of all land records, including wetlands, are required.
• Encroachment becomes harder if digitised data about wetlands and their buffer zones are available to planners and the general public.
• By cutting off surplus nutrient supplies, the eutrophication of the wetland may be prevented.
• De-siltation, weeding, and aeration into the water may all be done after that.
• Development authorities must take over the resurrected wetland to a citizen’s organisation so that they may manage and benefit from it.

Mains oriented questions:

Why is there a need for wetlands conservation? What are the dangers that wetlands face? Propose wetlands-protection measures. (200 words)