As per the National Wetland Inventory &Assessment, 2011, Space Applications Centre- ISRO Ahmedabad identified about 2,01,503 water bodies/wetlands (>2.25 hectares). These include lakes/ponds, ox-bow lakes, high altitude & riverine wetlands, waterlogged areas, rivers/streams, tanks, reservoirs, lagoons, creeks, sand beaches, corals, mangroves, mud flats, salt pans, aquaculture ponds, etc. The state-wise details are given in Annexure -1. As per this inventory, the total wetland area estimated including rivers/streams is about 15 million ha and excluding rivers/streams is about 10 million ha.

While the Central and State Governments take all possible steps for the restoration, conservation and preservation of wetlands (including lakes), developmental activities and anthropogenic pressures do affect water bodies.  

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has notified Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 as regulatory framework for conservation and management of wetlands across country to conserve, manage and maintain the ecological character of the wetlands without restricting the wise use.

Further, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) 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. 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.

Four – pronged approach of preparing Brief Documents, filling Ecosystem Health Cards, instituting Wetland Mitras and formulating Integrated Management Plans based on the health and specific threats facing the wetlands, is in place for conservation and management of wetlands.  Under the NPCA scheme, the central assistance is based on the proposals received from the State Governments in the form of Integrated Management Plans including brief documents, in conformity with the guidelines and budget availability. So far, MoEF&CC has sanctioned proposals for conservation of 164 wetlands across the country and released an amount of about Rs. 1066.43 Crores as central share.

A dedicated Web Portal (https:// indianwetlands.in) for Wetlands has been developed, which is 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 for processing information and making it available to the stakeholders in an efficient and accessible manner.

A Centre for Wetlands Conservation and Management (CWCM) under the Ministry’s National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) has been established to serve as a knowledge hub and enabling to exchange between wetland users, managers, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners and to assist the national and State/ UT Governments in the design and implementation of policy and regulatory frameworks, management planning, monitoring and targeted research specifically related to wetlands.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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Annexure-I

State-wise wetland distribution in India

(National Wetland Inventory &Assessment, 2011)

HS/PD/IG