Wetlands conservation vital for life and environment today: Experts

Dr. Siddharth Kaul, President of Wetlands International South Asia, discussed the rigorous developments in Wetlands and stressed the need for the conservation of water bodies to ensure better availability of water in the future.

New Delhi: Citing the recent incidents of flooding in urban belts, the experts have once again raised concerns over rigorous developments in Wetlands and stressed the need for conservation of water bodies to ensure better availability of water in the future. On the occasion of the silver jubilee celebration of Wetlands International South Asia held in New Delhi, a panel discussion followed by the launch of three publications on the issue of wetlands conservation was held in the national capital.

"Wetlands are degrading because of the developmental pressures. New things are coming up everywhere, and later people who settle there face issues like floods. For example, you see in Gurugram when it was flooded, most of the drains and inlets were cut down because of the construction works. So there was no passage for flood water, a similar thing happened in Kashmir as well. Many people died due to those devastating floods. That was also due to wetlands. The latest example has been Banglore.

Whenever we interfere with wetlands there is devastation because ultimately wetlands provide fresh water to us. They are storehouses to water and it is also said that the third world war, whenever it takes place will be because of water. No matter the size, whether it is small, medium, or big, if you destroy wetlands, you will have to face the water issues," said Dr. Siddharth Kaul, President of Wetlands International South Asia, an NGO working for sustaining and restoring wetlands, their resources, and biodiversity in South Asia region.

He further said that the number of services wetlands provide to human beings are vital for human lives. If they are not there, life wouldn't be possible. Wetlands also provide a livelihood to millions of people in the country. Speaking on how to conserve wetlands in the race to development, he said that awareness among general people is very important.

"Everyone can do a whole lot of things to contribute towards a better environment. We have to make it a mass movement. We are propagating these things among people, providing training to people, and knowledge tanks and their committees are being guided. We also work with the concerned ministries in the governments and help them," said Kaul.

Laying emphasis on the wetlands as social assets, Dr. Ritesh Kumar, the director of WISA, stressed decentralizing wetland management augmenting interventions from regulatory to one enabling a participatory approach through dialogues and collaborative actions.

Union Minister of State for Education and External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, while addressing the event as a chief guest called for the participatory role of the individuals beyond their societal realms. He informed that on the occasion of 75 years of independence, India designated 75 wetlands as Ramsar sites which is the largest network in Asia.