Disappearing wetlands; final call

Ritesh Kumar is the Conservation Programme Manager of Wetlands International-South Asia, a regional programme of wetlands International, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to conservation and wise use of wetlands.
His areas of work include integrated wetland management, river basin management, sustainable livelihoods and incentive systems. He has also been active in promoting mainstreaming of wetlands into developmental planning through use of economic evaluation tools.He currently heads the Wetland International’s regional programme on wetlands and livelihoods for Asia and Oceania region. Kumar is currently a member of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), the subsidiary technical body of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands which provides guidance to its Contracting parties on various issues related to wetland conservation and wise use.

OneWorld South Asia: From the climate change perspective how important is it to conserve wetlands?
Ritesh Kumar: There are so many evidences that point out that stresses on wetlands of South Asia would increase due to climate change. Like the coastal wetlands are undergoing changes on account of sea level rise. Similarly, changes are also being noticed in the high altitude wetlands of Himalayas.
Apparently, we need to reflect on the positive contributions of wetlands to address climate change. In fact, they are an important component of our nature based climate mitigation and adaptation policies.
Wetlands have a role in global carbon cycle. The ecosystems as mangroves can be an important component of strategies for fixing carbon. These can support food and water security, regulate hydrological regimes and support biodiversity. All of these ecosystem services become very important in the context of climate change.Inspite of the many benefits, climate related policy making has not been able to fully integrate the role of wetlands in climate change. India’s national climate action plan recognises the contribution of wetlands only within the water mission, with a very narrow scope. It is high time, nature based adaptation strategies are bought to fore in this region, and conservation and wise use of wetland ecosystems be made a part of climate strategies.

OWSA: What issues do wetlands in South Asia face and which are the most threatened ones?
Kumar: Major threats on wetlands of South Asia emerge from developmental planning which fails to address and integrate wetland ecosystem services. Policies for enhancing food and water security for long have been focused on hard engineering measures, without considering impacts on wetlands. Scores of rich wetland areas have been converted for permanent agriculture within the region. Construction of embankments has fragmented the rich river floodplains of region. Hydrological structures have failed to incorporate the downstream needs, including allocating water for ecosystems.
The key indirect drivers remain population growth and increasing economic development. The direct drivers include infrastructure development, land conversion, changes in hydrological regimes, eutrophication and pollution, over harvesting of resources, introduction of invasive alien species.
In terms of some of the hotspots where wetlands loss has been more tragic and rapid include the floodplains especially of the Gangetic region and the coastal wetland ecosystem which include Sunderbans wherein coastal ecosystems are under major stress both from under anthropogenic as well as climate related changes.

OWSA: United Nations has warned that failure to protect wetlands is putting migratory water birds in danger. How is Wetlands International working towards this issue and what initiatives have been taken so far?

Kumar: Wetlands International globally coordinates the international water bird census, which is one of the key processes for assessing the overall status of migratory water birds. It supports a flyway based approach to mange water birds and wetland habitats.A flyway consists of all major wetlands which all migratory water birds use within their various life cycles. It works with major national governments, NGOs, wetland managers to develop and promote different flyways. For example the African-Eurasian, East Asian –Australasian and Central Asian flyways.
The South Asian office conducts and supports Asian water bird census which is the longest term data available for the status of migratory water birds. The database is often used for site level planning.

Hail Haor wetlands in 1999 Environmental changes, such as flood embankments and large silt deposits have reduced the area and quality of water bodies in Bangladesh/ Photo credit: MACH Project/ USAID

For example, several wetland management plans in the country- Kolleru lake, Wular lake in Kashmir, have used the data to assess the status of water birds in the wetlands and develop appropriate conservation strategies.
This database also became useful when the whole issue of role of migratory water birds in the avian influenza (bird flu) was highlighted. And evidences pointed out those migratory water birds did not have any role in the process.

OWSA: Would you like to add some success stories, case studies?
Kumar: At policy level, the whole central Asian flyway agreement was a major success under the convention of migratory species in which various countries from the central Asian flyway region had agreed to coordinate and plan for the conservation of wetlands which fall in this flyway. However, this is still to get urgent attention which is demanded and which needs to be accorded for conservation of migratory water birds. I think it is still not taking the required spot in the national level policy making and planning. That’s the reason why the migratory water birds continue to suffer and wetlands continue to be degraded.

OWSA: With the case of disappearing wetlands in Bangladesh and other parts of South Asia attention has been drawn towards mismanagement of water bodies and land grabbing .What kind of rehabilitation programme and collective action would help to restore the threatened eco-system and the wetlands?
Kumar: First and foremost, Wetland International promotes integrated wetland management planning. It looks at various direct and indirect factors in determining ecosystem services of a wetland and then it prescribes a holistic approach which includes integrating land and water bodies management as well as strengthening communities and institutions to support robust wetland management.A critical component in integrated wetland management and planning and which is very relevant to the region is supporting integration of wetlands into river basins and coastal zone management which is not merely limited to ensuring allocation of water to wetlands but also seeing the functional role in identified river basins and coastal zones.
Similarly, economic valuation can become an important tool to see how non-tangible benefits of wetlands can be compared to more tangible benefits, alternate uses of wetlands and more often than not it has been seen that conserving a wetland is far more beneficial than converting it for any alternate use.We also support and promote community led participatory wetland management approaches with focus on building institutions at multiple levels for supporting integrated wetland management.

OWSA: WI has set 2014 as the target year for 4 goals and 12 targets .What are those and what  progress has been made so far?
Kumar: Wetland International’s entire programme for conservation is structured along four broad areas in its strategic intent.
First one addresses wetland knowledge base which sees the status and trends in wetland and their resources and ecosystem services.The second strategic intent area looks at the role of wetlands in developmental planning and focuses at mainstreaming wetlands in development planning process and most importantly in poverty alleviation strategies.
The third major strategic area is wetlands and integrated water resources management, which focuses on ensuring integration of wetlands into river basins and coastal zone management planning process. The fourth strategic intent area is focused on wetland biodiversity and ecological network which majorly supports the role of wetland dependant species for example migratory water birds and fish species which use wetlands in their life cycle,how to conserve those wetland areas and promote a network of these habitats so that the species can be sustained.A review of Wetland International’s strategic intent showed that we had been successful in addressing all these areas to a fair degree.
But the challenge is very overwhelming and the board of Wetlands International is now getting into a review process wherein we reorganise our strategic intent in the global context. So, broadly our performance targets and performance against those targets have been fairly good .
Considering the whole status of the wetlands worldwide, and the overall scenario of development aid, there is always much to do in this sector. And the new strategic intent which should be in place by 2011, should be able to adjust much of the strategic shift in thinking.

Source: southasia.oneworld.net