While the draft of the proposalopen for public comments for 60 days that began on 9 Julyendorses the governments pro-development credentials, it has risked a strong rebuke from environmental groups, who argue this is likely to threaten a key ecological asset.
Currently, wetlandswhich maintain ecological balance by recharging groundwater, preventing floods and being a repository to biodiversityare not legally classified or recognized in India. Several other countries, such as the US, have Central and state legislation that regulate and protect wetlands.
Coastal wetlands account for more than half of wetland area in the country. India has about 7.6 million ha of wetlands, excluding paddy fields, rivers and canals, out of which 3.6 million ha is inland and 4 million ha coastal, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international non-profit organization. There are 2,175 natural wetlands over 1.46 million ha and 65,254 man-made lakes covering 2.85 million ha in the country.
Government estimates of wetland area, however, vary, with the ministry of environment and forests estimating they cover an area of about 5.5 million ha, of which 50% is coastal wetlands.
For coastal wetlands, the draft says these are excluded as they are covered under the Environment Protection Act (EPA) of 1986. Under EPA rules, there is no restriction on land use, unlike the draft wetland rules.
EPA mandates that a coastal wetland can be reclaimed and developed. In the case of the wetlands covered under the new guidelines, the governing bodywhich can be a district, state or Central, depending on the type of wetlandwill have to issue a notification altering the land use.
Many irrigation projects effectively kill wetlands by diverting water, or by excessive inundation near the storage areas. Thus, environmental impact of land use and land cover changes due to infrastructure development on wet lands is effectively ignored and no management or mitigation strategy is proposed, said a wetland and biodiversity scientist associated with the developments, who declined to be identified.
The draft asks for state- and district-level committees to be set up, which will individually identify each wetland, which will then be regulated under the rules.
Akin to the environmental impact assessment rules, this draft also divides wetlands into categories on the basis of their relevance and regulation required. Of the three categories, the most critical, category A, will be approved and controlled by the Central committee, category B by state committees and category C by district committees.
Considering Indias often contiguous network of wetlands, scientists doubt whether a site-by-site identification, approval and regulation is feasible.
The provisions of this draft force management to be siteby-site, which is not very ecologically sound, especially for flood plain wetlands, K.S.
Gopi Sundar, research associate with the International Crane Foundation, a non-profit, said while citing the example of wetland areas in Uttar Pradesh that are made up of many small wetlands.
A landscape approach is far more efficient and ecologically sustainable, and explicitly included individual wetlands, while also recognizing their combined worth, he said.
Gopi Sundar added that it is sad that the importance of wetlands to biodiversity conservation and as a source of attracting migrating birds has been ignored in the draft.
One of the dangers is that only wetlands recognized and officially recorded will be protected under this scheme, he said. It appears that a considerable amount of time will pass before one is officially recognized. In India, most wetlands are not documented except on toposheets (physical maps), Gopi Sundar pointed out.