THREATS TO WETLANDS

CASE STUDY : Wetlands of Kharghar Fighting for survival

THREATS TO WETLANDS
Rising anthropogenic-pressures have posed a serious danger to wetlands since the emergence of industrialization
and urbanization. According to estimates, India lost 38% of its wetlands between 1991 and 2001.

 Changes in urbanization and land use: Between 1901 and 1991, the number of urban centers quadrupled
while the urban population expanded eightfold. This kind of population increase put huge strain on wetlands THE KANWAR LAKE IN BIHAR
and floodplain regions, which had to supply the rising population's water and food demands.
 The Kanwar lake in Bihar, Asia's biggest freshwater oxbow lake, has fallen to one-third its original size
owing to invasion, similar to the Dal lake in Jammu and Kashmir. In recent years, roughly 34000 hectares of the
Kolleru lake's water spread area (Andhra Pradesh) have been reclaimed for agriculture.
 Fertilizer use in India has grown from roughly 2.8 million tons in 1973 1974 to 28.3 million ton in 2010 2011 as a
result of increasing agricultural activity over the last four decades.
 According to estimates, 10 15 percent of the nutrients given to soils via fertilizers end up in the surface water
system. Eutrophication of surface water bodies is caused by high nitrogen concentration, which promotes CHEMICAL RUNOFF AND EUTROPHICATION
RESULTS IN THE FORMATION OF MASSIVE
algae development. ALGAE BLOOMS.

 Municipal and industrial pollution: Domestic wastewater in Indian cities is treated at just 31% of the time,
compared to 80% in the developed world, and is mostly released into natural water bodies such as streams
and rivers.
 The River Yamuna, for example, which flows through six Indian states, gets roughly 1789 MLD of untreated
waste water from Delhi alone. This accounts for almost 78 percent of the entire pollutant load that enters the
river each day.

THE RIVER YAMUNA POLLUTION

  Climate Change: According to UNESCO, global climate change is anticipated to become a major cause of
wetland ecosystem loss and change by 2050. These discoveries are critical for India, which has been plagued
by a flood-drought-flood cycle for the past two decades.
 According to a research, wetlands at high altitudes, as well as coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral
reefs, are among the most vulnerable classes to climate change.
 For example, climate change has caused the level of Tsomoriri Lake in Ladakh, a glacially fed high altitude
lake, to increase, submerging crucial breeding islands where endangered migratory birds such as the Black- WHEN WETLAND BECOME WASTELAND IN J&K
necked Crane and Bar-headed Goose would nest.
 With a 1 meter rise in sea level caused by climate change, India is expected to lose around 84 percent of
coastal wetlands and 13 percent of saline wetlands.
In addition to the major threats listed above, dredging, unplanned urbanisation and development projects,
introduction of exotic species, encroachments and unregulated aquaculture (e.g. Kolleru lake) backed by the
Bureaucrats-Politicians-Businessmen nexus, encroachments and unregulated aquaculture (e.g. Kolleru lake),
THE PETITION CLAIMED THAT THE MUNICIPAL
dredging, and unplanned urbanization and development projects are some of the other dangers threatening the CORPORATION HAD BEEN DUMPING SOLID
existence. WASTE ILLEGALLY IN MOLLAR BHERI,
POLLUTING THE WATER BODIES OF THE
INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED EAST
CALCUTTA WETLANDS

Anthropogenic activities, such

as wetland farming, grazing
residential encroachment, and
industrial development, have
ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS ARE
caused severe alteration in the DESTROYING GOA'S TRADITIONAL
TSOMORIRI LAKE IN LADAKH wetland WETLANDS
 PHOTO ESSAY-

How did mud piles land up in the Kharghar wetlands? (Pic: Tarang Sarin) Lesser Whistling Ducks at Sector 25, Kharghar. (Pic: Tarang Sarin)
Sector 16, Kharghar

Lesser Sand Plovers at Kharghar will return to the Mongolian plains soon.
Sector 16, Kharghar A coastal wetland turned into an area for illegal prawn farming by
(Pic: Tarang Sarin)
powerful fishermen. (Pic: Tarang Sarin)
Sector 16, Kharghar This was the wetland before East of Sector 25 & 28, Kharghar There was lots of
Sector 16, Kharghar In February 2020, the wetland was
destruction, full of birds and fishes. (Pic: Tarang Sarin) water and the place was full of birds and fishes.(Pic:
drained. Hundreds of fish died. (Pic: Tarang Sarin)
Tarang Sarin)

Burning of hill slopes happens every year in the months of December

Debris dumping at the peripheries and entrances of coastal The debris pile grows higher and higher, eating away the to March, when the grass dries. This is done by miscreants and
wetlands is a daily affair. It pollutes the water. It happens in wetland. (Pic: Tarang Sarin) completely destroys the animal and plant life. Lizards, snakes, small
public view and authorities do nothing. (Pic: Tarang Sarin) mammals, insects, the grass and innumerable trees are burnt alive.
(Pic: Tarang Sarin).
REFERENCES:

 https://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/wetlands-in-india-significance-threats-conservation-
1466144262-
1#:~:text=In%20India%20too%2C%20wetlands%20are,other%20waste%20from%20urban%20areas.&text
=Flood%20control%3A%20Wetlands%20play%20an%20important%20role%20in%20flood%20control.
 https://www.theleaflet.in/when-wetlands-become-wastelands-in-jk/
 https://mumbai.citizenmatters.in/threats-to-the-ecosystem-of-the-wetlands-of-kharghar-24095