Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today informed that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has constituted wetlands authorities in States/UTs through Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules 2017 for notification, conservation and management of wetlands.

The Ministry is currently implementing a centrally sponsored scheme namely, National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA), for conservation and management of identified wetlands (includes lakes) in the country on cost sharing basis between Central Government and respective State Governments / Union Territories. The scheme covers various activities such as interception, diversion and treatment of wastewater, shoreline protection, lake front development, in-situ cleaning i.e. desilting & de-weeding, storm water management, bioremediation, catchment area treatment, lake beautification, survey & demarcation, bio-fencing, fisheries development, weed control, biodiversity conservation, education and awareness creation, community participation, etc.

In the written reply it was stated that the Ministry has launched Mission Sahbhagita, on the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, which is an important step towards participatory conservation and wise use of wetlands to enable a society ownership approach with communities leading at the forefront. The Ministry has also launched ‘Save Wetlands Campaign’ as part of this Mission on 04.02.2023 at Goa on the occasion of World Wetlands Day 2023.

Further, Ministry has launched “Wetlands of India Portal” (indianwetlands.in), a publicly available information and knowledge platform, in order to facilitate knowledge sharing, information dissemination, host capacity building material, and provide a single-point access data repository with the features of Management Information System (MIS) login for each and every state/UT for uploading of information from time to time.

It was also stated that under the NPCA scheme, MoEF&CC has sanctioned the central assistance for conservation of 165 wetlands across the country, including 42 Ramsar sites, based on the proposals received from the State Governments/ Union Territories in the form of Integrated Management Plans in conformity with the guidelines. Out of above 165 wetlands, 6 wetlands from Gujarat are included in the list. Details of funds released during last two years under NPCA scheme to Govt. of Gujarat for conservation of wetlands isas under.

(Rs in Lakhs)

S.No.	Scheme	2021-22	2022-23
1	National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-system (NPCA)	300.0	-

 

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