WETLANDS IN
INDIA
Wetlands
are amongst the most productive ecosystems on the Earth and provide many
important services to human society. However, they are also ecologically
sensitive and adaptive systems (. Wetlands exhibit enormous diversity according
to their genesis, geographical location, water regime and chemistry, dominant
species, and soil and sediment characteristics
Gujarat is ahead of other states in
the country in ecological richness. This is evident from the recent ‘National
wetland inventory and assessment’ report prepared by the Space Applications
Centre, Ahmedabad.In the report, Gujarat comes out on top with the largest
amount of its landmass identified as wetlands of different kinds.
As much as 17.56% of the state’s
geographic area - this comes to 34.74 lakh hectares - has been shown as wetland
in the National Wetland Atlas released by the Union minister of environment and
forests, Gujarat is followed by Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and
Maharashtra in that order. Even the coastal Union territories of Diu and Daman
have upto 18.46% of their total geographical area as wetland, next only to
Lakshadweep whose 96.12% of land area is wetland. (The total wetland area in
Lakshadweep, and Diu and Daman, respectively, are smaller in size than
Gujarat’s 34.74 hectares).
A total of 15.26 million hectares
have been identified as wetland in India. This report has been prepared by the
SAC after a gap of nearly two decades with the help satellite images with much
better resolution than were available the last time mapping was done in
1992-93.
Interestingly, the total landmass
identified as wetland in the country has increased from 8.26 million hectares
in 1992-93. This is perhaps because of more powerful satellites which ensured
that even small wetlands were mapped.
Maps of 150 important wetland sites
have been prepared for effective conservation.
The atlas is going to be used by
the MoEF to conserve these wetland sites directly, as no state has shown the
enthusiasm to send proposals for sites eligible for Ramsar certification.
“The wetland types found in India
are categorized into 19 classes. Utility-wise, wetlands, directly and
indirectly, support millions of people by providing food, fibre and raw
materials,” Wetlands are considered to have unique ecological features
which provide numerous products and services to humanity Ecosystem goods provided by the wetlands
mainly include: water for irrigation; fisheries; non-timber forest products; water
supply; and recreation. Major services include: carbon sequestration, flood
control, groundwater recharge, nutrient removal, toxics retention and
biodiversity maintenance
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