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                              WETLAND AND BIODIVERSITY



Wetlands are a great resource of cultural, scientific, recreational, and economic value to human life and they are very closely linked to the biodiversity of the flora and fauna in the ecosystem.

In simple words, I can define wetland – The transitional land between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems where the water table is usually at or near the surface. However, any piece of land covered with shallow water may also be termed as a wetland.

You may think for a while that why are we talking about these wetlands, well this can be justified by the fact that

1.  They are the most productive ecosystem of the world by contributing 2/3 rd of the total fish harvest of the world.

2.  They help in carbon sequestration, climate stabilization, groundwater recharge and their role in providing livelihood to millions of people can not be neglected.

3.  They act as the kidney of the landscape and the term kidney here indicate that they filter, retain, and recycle important nutrient by regulating the different biogeochemical cycle.





Further when we talk about biodiversity

1. 20% of the biodiversity in India alone is found in freshwater wetlands.

    2. 70% of wetlands in India are under paddy cultivation.                              

    So we can say that by protecting our wetlands we are also protecting our biodiversity of different flora and fauna.

·  Despite having such importance their current status is not up to the mark, the majority of them are highly threatened on the verge of extinction mainly due to anthropogenic interventions.                     

    In The  USA  54% of wetland had been lost due to urbanization, in Ireland, 50% of wetland lost due to peat mining activities in the last 3 decades.







Talking about India                                                                    

Wullar Lake in Kashmir is degraded to 33% due to siltation and encroachment, eutrophication, and weed infestation, Harike lake in Punjab is polluted due to the spreading of water hyacinth at an alarming rate, Loktak lake in Manipur is also under threat due to unplanned land practices.                                                                      So today is a time for protecting our wetlands by countering the unplanned urbanization, integrated planning, management and execution of policies, effective collaborations among academics, ecologists, watershed management specialists for the overall management of our wetlands.

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