Wetland Science : Perspectives From South Asia

593 Pages·2017·14.013 MB·English

by  B. Anjan Kumar Prusty, Rachna Chandra, P. A. Azeez (eds.)

B. Anjan Kumar Prusty 
Rachna Chandra
P.A. Azeez Editors
Wetland
Science
Perspectives From South Asia
Wetland Science
B. Anjan Kumar Prusty • Rachna Chandra
P.A. Azeez
Editors
Wetland Science
Perspectives From South Asia
Editors
B. Anjan Kumar Prusty Rachna Chandra
Environmental Impact Assessment Division Terrestrial Ecology Division
Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology
Bhuj, Gujarat, India Bhuj, Gujarat, India
P.A. Azeez
Sálim Ali Center for Ornithology and
Natural History
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
ISBN 978-81-322-3713-6 ISBN 978-81-322-3715-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-3715-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933841
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India
We owe this book to our teachers and
mentors who introduced us to the mystifying
wetland habitats. Further, we dedicate this
compilation to researchers and field staff
who have spent years looking at wetlands
and their linkages with human society.
Foreword
It gives me great pleasure to introduce the book Wetland
Science: Perspectives From South Asia edited by Dr.
B. Anjan Kumar Prusty, Dr. Rachna Chandra and Dr.
P.A. Azeez. The contents of this carefully edited work
will be of great interest to many people working on the
conservation and management of wetlands in South
Asia.
Wetlands are always fascinating because of their
diverse types, the range of critical ecosystem services
that they provide which support millions of people, and
their rich biodiversity, including a large variety of plant
and animal species adapted to specific water regimes.
Wetlands although unique ecosystems on their own
are considered as ‘ecotones’, wherein their distinctive-
ness is not adequately recognized. Hence, there is a
case to be made for wetland science as a distinct disci-
pline, taking input from associated fields including ter-
restrial and aquatic ecology, environmental chemistry,
hydrology and engineering in a typically multidisci-
plinary perspective. Wetland management, as the
applied side of wetland science, requires systematic
understanding of the intricate structural and functional
aspects of the system, with inputs from sociological, legal, institutional and eco-
nomic aspects in addition to disciplines such as biology, ecology and hydrology.
Six of the countries of South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka) are contracting parties to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar
1971). As a result, they have shown their international commitments to the wise use
of wetlands throughout their territory, together with the long-term conservation of
their priority wetlands by designating those sites as Wetlands of International
Importance (‘Ramsar Sites’), and they have agreed to cooperate nationally and
internationally to conserve transboundary wetlands and their resources. By 2016, a
total of 66 Ramsar Sites showing a wonderful diversity of wetland types have been
designated in these six South Asian countries. These range from the lake Mai
Pokhari at 2,122 m in Nepal to the mangrove and tidal flats of the Indus Delta in
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viii Foreword
Pakistan. For sustainability, it is to be hoped that many more wetland areas in the
region will be conserved and wisely used, including in the countries of Afghanistan
and the Maldives which have not so far acceded to the Convention.
This book is in line with the efforts and initiatives in conserving the wetlands in
South Asia by describing the issues facing them and substantiating it with case stud-
ies, on Ramsar Sites and other important wetlands. The facts and case studies pre-
sented in this book will not only be helpful for students, researchers and site
managers but also for the highest levels of policy and decision making of executive
authorities in wetland conservation, including the Ramsar Secretariat. Planning this
book in the form of a consolidation of information and case studies on wetlands, for
large habitat contiguity and diversity in the South Asian region, will benefit research-
ers in the field as well as the wetland site managers.
I commend the editors for their exemplary efforts in bringing out this volume
with 30 technical chapters under eight different themes. The opening chapter pro-
vides an introduction to the outline of the book. Similarly, the final set of chapters
conclude the compilation in a logical manner with case studies on legal and institu-
tional frameworks and participatory wetland management, which are currently
essential in conserving and managing these unique habitats. I therefore congratulate
the editors and the publisher for bringing out this book of topical significance, and
I am sure that it will serve as a vital reference, since there are few comparable
accounts available.
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands Ania Grobicki
Gland, Switzerland
Preface
Wetlands, a major feature of landscape in almost all parts of the world, are among the
important ecosystems on Earth. From time immemorial, wetlands and river valleys
have played a decisive role in nurturing many cultures and civilizations. However,
the history of dealing with wetlands by humankind is fraught with misunderstanding
and fear. Wetlands are disappearing at alarming rates across the globe, apparently
since they were largely considered synonymous with wastelands to be filled up,
drained, occupied and diverted for other human needs, disregarding the vital ecologi-
cal services these ecosystems offer and the ecological goods we derive from them.
A more recent and global issue that concerns both coastal and inland wetlands is the
climate change. Limited investigations and experiments, especially in paddy fields,
and lack of scientifically robust data have put the wetlands responsible for high
methane emissions and ensuing changes in climate. It appears that international
pressures from various interest groups have also added to this postulation.
Nevertheless, it appears that we are yet to estimate with certainty the role of wetlands
as net carbon sources or sinks. In fact, these enigmatic ecosystems need further sci-
entific investigations regarding their role in the Earth system, especially with respect
to their structural and functional roles and the ecological services they offer.
Wetlands, as a unique ecosystem, have properties that are not adequately covered
by terrestrial and aquatic ecology, suggesting that there is a case to be made for
wetland science as a distinct discipline, taking input from many fields, including
terrestrial and aquatic ecology, environmental chemistry, hydrology and engineer-
ing in a typically multidisciplinary perspective. Wetlands are unique in many ways,
of which their hydrologic characteristics and roles as ecotones between terrestrial
and aquatic systems are notable. Wetland management, as the applied side of wet-
land science, requires systematic understanding of the various aspects of the sys-
tem, balanced with legal, institutional and economic realities and expertise from
disciplines of biology, ecology and hydrology. The wetland science is not an issue
concerning hydrology and water management or confined to be a domain of biolo-
gists or ecologists. Wetland science essentially needs to draw upon knowledge base
from other disciplines such as sociology, economics, hydrology and engineering as
well. Wetlands are closely connected with humankind than any other ecosystems,
for their intimate role in human sociocultural development, migration, spread and
settlement across the globe. In recent years, wetland science is picking up as interest
in wetlands grows; so do professional societies, as well as a number of journals and
literature concerned with wetlands.
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x Preface
In the past couple of decades, advances in environmental and ecological studies
have shed light on the intricacies of wetlands: their values are being recognized, and
wetland protection is considered imperative in many parts of the world. The aca-
demia and the managers have well acknowledged that the wetlands perform several
invaluable functions and offer several tangible and intangible services and com-
modities to humanity. To a lesser extent, but progressively more, the policy makers
are also getting conscious of the importance of the wetlands for sustainable devel-
opment of the humankind. Overt and covert release of chemical-laden wastes by
industries, explicit and surreptitious dumping of solid wastes and unscientific and
wanton application of agrochemicals that ultimately reach the wetlands have drawn
the attention of researchers to chalk out strategies for the conservation, sustainable
utilization and management of wetlands. This book is an attempt to acknowledge
the discipline ‘wetland science’ and to bring together research findings, reviews and
synthesis on different aspects of the wetlands of South Asia. To date, ‘wetland sci-
ence’, a thorough interdisciplinary field, is not much known and treated as a com-
pact and distinct discipline. A course in ‘wetland science’ is also not known to be
taught in any well-known universities around the globe, though the topics falling
under this discipline are generally handled more or less in a disjunct style under the
discipline ‘ecology’ or under the exceptionally broad ‘environmental studies’ or
such fields. It is high time that ‘wetland science’ needs to be acknowledged as an
interdisciplinary subdiscipline and requires an attempt to consolidate various topics
under it and to present them comprehensively.
The idea of this book was conceived by the editors during their research on wet-
lands and a greater realization that for the large habitat contiguity and diversity in
the South Asian region, a consolidation of information and case studies on wetlands
would be a worthwhile attempt for the benefit of the research in the field. This book
is an outcome of intense efforts by the editors for the last (almost) 2 years, which
involved exploring and identifying research groups working on wetlands in the
South Asian region, obtaining their contributions pertinent to the identified themes
of the book, screening the contributions, reviewing, several rounds of revision of the
selected manuscripts, editing and refining. In total, we received around 60 contribu-
tions from experts from various countries. Of these, for various reasons, we could
accommodate but only 30 chapters. The chapters present and discuss diverse issues
on wetlands in the region, as case studies. The chapters are segregated under differ-
ent themes that represent broad issues of concern in a systematic manner keeping in
mind students, researchers and general readers at large. The readers of the book will
be exposed to basics, theory with case studies and examples from the region. It
would be also useful for students of graduate and higher levels and researchers in
allied fields such as environmental studies, limnology, wildlife biology, aquatic
biology, marine biology and landscape ecology. We hope that this book would also
serve as a reference base on wetlands and facilitate further deliberations on specific
issues to bring in a sustainable future for the wetland habitats of this region.
Bhuj, Gujarat, India B. Anjan Kumar Prusty
Bhuj, Gujarat, India Rachna Chandra
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India P.A. Azeez
October 30, 2016
Acknowledgements
At the outset, we would like to thank our teachers and mentors for introducing us to
wetland habitats as experimental sites during our early research career. It gives us
great pleasure in expressing our deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to our
teachers and mentors Prof. P. C. Mishra [expert member, National Green Tribunal
(NGT), Government of India]; Prof. D. K. Banerjee, Prof. C. K. Varshney, Prof.
Brij Gopal and Prof. V. Subramanian (formerly with the School of Environmental
Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India); Dr. V. S. Vijayan and
Dr. Lalitha Vijayan (formerly of Bombay Natural History Society and Sálim Ali
Centre for Ornithology and Natural History); and Prof. S. K. Sahu (Department of
Environmental Sciences, Sambalpur University, India). Further, Prof. B. C.
Choudhury (formerly with the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun) and Dr. A.
R. Rahmani (Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai) have been always a
source of encouragement for us providing vital inputs in experimenting and
researching in different wetland habitats. This section will not be complete without
acknowledging Mr. K. Arup Kumar Patro (late), then senior programme coordi-
nator at MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai, India, who
introduced the chief editor to wetlands (during his post-graduation and predoctoral
research years) and impressed him about the need for wetland research in India.
The idea of this book came up in our mind during our earlier days of research in
Keoladeo National Park (KNP), India. The multiphase research project in KNP pro-
vided us enough impetus to explore various ecological issues in the KNP wetland
ecosystem, an inland wetland system. Our work at KNP provided us confidence to
expand our interest to other wetland habitats such as coastal wetland and man-
groves. Thus, in the last couple of years, much of our (BAKP and RC) attention was
devoted to coastal wetland ecosystems and mangrove habitats through various
research projects executed by Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology (GUIDE),
Bhuj, India. While researching on wetlands, we always felt the need for a compila-
tion that consolidates different environmental issues on various wetland habitats in
India, which has large habitat contiguity with many other South Asian nations.
We express our sincere gratitude to the funding agencies which supported us in
researching on wetlands, viz. the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate
Change (MoEF & CC), Government of India, New Delhi; Department of Science
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