29-Apr-2023: Regional Consultation Workshop for Restoration and Integrated Management of Wetlands held at Imphal, Manipur

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change organised a regional consultative workshop for the restoration and integrated management of wetlands for the North-eastern states in Imphal, Manipur on 29th – 30th May 2023. The workshop is fourth in the series of regional workshops (previously held in Srinagar, Goa, and Kochi) under Mission Sahbhagita. The Sahbhagita mission aims to conserve and effectively manage a network of 75 wetlands of national and international importance in the country with an all-inclusive ‘whole of society’ and ‘whole of government’ approach.

During the workshop Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change  Shri Bhupender Yadav interacted with the site managers and the State Wetland Authorities (SWAs) of the North-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, to understand the priorities and challenges of wetlands conservation at their respective states/sites. The Union Minister emphasised that wise use of wetlands aligned with its natural ecology is critical for survival of these ecosystems. Highlighting the importance of multi-stakeholder approach Shri Yadav said “different agencies should come together and collaborate for wetlands conservation”. Shri Yadav stated, “wetlands often get neglected as public goods. The entire society needs to come together to protect these ecosystems”. He also emphasised that change in personal behaviours is the most important aspect if we have to conserve the wetlands. Mission LiFE is critical for nudging people for conserving wetlands.

Shri Yadav mentioned that the conservation of wetlands cannot be the government's responsibility alone. Wetlands are essentially societal assets, with governments acting as a trustee of these assets on behalf of the citizens of India. Unless the entire society participates and partners in wetlands conservation, tangible change cannot be achieved.

The Union Minister also released the publication ‘Cultural Significance of Indian Wetlands’. The publication showcases the cultural values of wetlands – and provides examples of traditional knowledge, local beliefs, festivals, community practices and folktales related to wetlands.

In the first half of the workshop, the states presented an overview of wetlands conservation in their states, successes and challenges. The presentations reflected on wetlands delineation, inventorization, preparation of brief documents, management plan formulation, and communication and outreach actions.

Mr. Anoop Kumar V. from Sanatan Dharma College, Kerala, gave a detailed presentation on developing eco-friendly value added products using water hyacinth by employing the underprivileged communities as workforce. In the second half, three plenary discussions were held. The first discussion focussed on  Amrit Dharohar and integration in Mission LiFE. The second discussion on Operationalising the Save Wetlands Campaign focussed on the key objectives and targets of the Save Wetland Campaign. The third discussion on Integrated Management Planning focused on the challenges in preparation and implementation of Integrated Management Plans. 

3-Apr-2023: Mission Sahbhagita encourages participatory conservation and wise use of wetlands to enable a society ownership approach

As per the "National Wetland Decadal Change Atlas, 2017 published by Space Applications Centre- ISRO Ahmedabad, a total of 2,31,195 wetlands (at 1:50000 scales and area >= 2.25 ha) have been mapped in the Country.  The total wetland area estimated is 15.98 million hectare (mha) including rivers and excluding paddy field areas that is around 4.86% of the geographic area of the country. 

India has designated 75 Wetlands of International Importance as Ramsar sites covering an area of 1.33 million ha across the country.

As per the Wetlands (Conservation & Management) Rules, 2017, the National Wetlands Committee (NWC) at national level and State Wetlands Authorities (SWAs)/ Union Territory Wetlands Authorities at state/UT level have been constituted. The SWAs are responsible for effective conservation, management and monitoring of ecological condition of wetlands within their jurisdiction. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has published comprehensive guidelines for implementing Wetlands (Conservation & Management) Rules, 2017. The above-said guidelines recommend the management of each notified wetland to be guided by an Integrated Management Plan (IMP) which inter-alia describes monitoring requirements for detecting changes in ecological character and for measuring the effectiveness of management.

Scientific details regarding the degraded wetlands across the country are not available, however, as per the ‘National Decadal Wetlands Change Atlas,’ released by MoEF&CC in February 2022, as an outcome of ‘National Wetland Inventory and Assessment – 2ndCycle’ project of the Space Application Center, the number and extent of wetlands having area equal to or greater than 2.25 ha has increased by 18,810and 0.64 million ha respectively during the assessment period 2006-07 to 2017-18.

Ministry has taken several steps for conservation and management of wetlands across the country. MoEF&CC has notified Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 as regulatory framework for conservation and management of wetlands across country to conserve, manage and maintain the ecological character of the wetlands without restricting the wise use.

Further, MoEF&CC is implementing a centrally sponsored scheme namely, NPCA for conservation and management of identified wetlands (includes lakes) in the country on cost sharing basis between Central Government and respective State Governments including Odisha. The scheme covers various activities such as interception, diversion and treatment of wastewater, shoreline protection, lake front development, in-situ cleaning i.e., desilting & de-weeding, storm water management, bioremediation, catchment area treatment, lake beautification, survey & demarcation, bio-fencing, fisheries development, weed control, biodiversity conservation, education and awareness creation, community participation, etc. So far, MoEF&CC has sanctioned proposals for conservation of 165 wetlands across the country, including 42 Ramsar sites and released an amount of about Rs. 1088.852 Crores as central share. This amount includes central share of Rs. 37.08418 crores released so far to Government of Odisha for conservation and management of Chilika lake (Rs. 28.33288 cr.), Ansupa (Rs. 6.44468 cr.), Kanjia (Rs. 0.9563 cr.), Daha (Rs. 0.506 cr.) and Kuanria (Rs. 0.84432 cr.) in Odisha.

The Ministry had also undertaken ‘Wetlands Rejuvenation’ programme within the framework of 169 transformative ideas of Government of India i.e. “Start work on Restoration & Rejuvenation of at least 100 major wetlands across the country”. In the first cycle of the programme, 130 wetlands were selected in consultation with State Governments for which collection of baseline information and rapid assessment of wetlands condition was done during the 100 days implementation period. Based on the health status, 32 wetlands were identified and concerned States/UTs were advised to take necessary action for their rejuvenation and restoration.

Ministry has launched Mission Sahbhagita, on the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, which is an important step towards participatory conservation and wise use of wetlands to enable a society ownership approach with communities leading at the forefront. The Ministry has also launched ‘Save Wetlands Campaign’ as part of this Mission on 04.02.2023 at Goa on the occasion of World Wetlands Day 2023.