Maintaining healthy ecosystems is cost effective whereas restoration of contaminated ecosystems is cost prohibitive. To what extent do concerned authorities in India have high values and regards for the environment, especially wetlands? The wetlands are the most productive ecosystem in the world that provides providing food, agricultural production, fisheries, water quality maintenance and recreation and also one of the key life support systems on Earth acting to purify water, control floods, replenish groundwater and recycle nutrients. Water and nutrients support biological productivity and serve as habitats for diverse species. All these benefits or services that wetland ecosystems provide, are essential for people’s Livelihoods – particularly in developing countries like India.
Despite these benefits, wetlands are consistently being destroyed, devastated, contaminated and converted to other land uses at a rate more rapid than any other ecosystem. Moreover, ecosystem services provided by the wetlands are not being fully captured in commercial markets and as a result not adequately valued during development decisions in India.
India has about 757.06 thousand wetlands with a total wetland area of 15.3 m ha, accounting for nearly 4.7% of the total geographical area of the country. Out of this, area under inland wetlands accounts for 69%, coastal wetlands 27%, and other wetlands (smaller than 2.25 ha) 4%. Among them, 26 sites have been designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 689,131 hectares covering the districts of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Many of the wetlands that occur in human-dominated landscapes remain acutely threatened by alarming levels of degradation and loss in many cities in India including Kolkata. Degradation of east Kolkata Wetland (EKW) designated as “Ramsar Sites” is further aggravated by social inequalities and poor planning amplifying the environmental pressures of economic expansion.
According to the estimation in 2010, the wetland received 0.7–1.0 million cubic metres per day of wastewater from Kolkata, and produces 16,000 tonnes of rice, 30,000–50,000t vegetables, and 8000t of fish per annum besides its important role to treat wastewater. Thereby the traditional practice of utilizing wastewater for fisheries and agriculture in wetlands is a unique example of sustainable socio-economic development pertaining to resource recovery in the present scenario of economic recession and pollution problems.
