Biodiversity for Survival

On May 22, the world celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity, at a time when the disappearance of species is at the highest rate in human history. According to the World Health Organisation, recent estimates show that species extinctions are currently 10 to 100 times higher than the natural baseline. This is largely due to human activities like deforestation, habitat fragmentation and climate change. Such biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are leading to major health concerns.

The degradation of wetlands that filter freshwater, for instance, has led to a 35 per cent decline in global wetland coverage since 1970, increasing water borne diseases and reducing water availability for over two billion people. Despite the existing biodiversity frameworks such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (1993), a rigorous Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and the recent Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of 2022, the ground reality is grim. A lack of political will and insufficient policy attention lead to big gaps between policy and implementation. In the 1950s and 1960s, en – vironmental crises in India, as around the world, spurred a slew of landmark legislations. In the USA, the widespread and successful observation of Earth Day on 22 April 1970 led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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The Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 followed in quick succession. More importantly, 1972 became a landmark year when the Stockholm United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held on June 5-16, produced the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment. A major outcome of the Stockholm Conference was the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The following years led to many more landmark international conferences on the environment. These meetings have tried to encourage nations to protect their air, water, natural resources and climate, and cooperate with each other on trans-boundary issues of mutual concern.

However, worldwide there has also been a rise in the standards of living, along with a rise in the number of wars and armed conflict, apart from an increase in extractive consumption to sustain demanding lifestyles. Way back as 2012, a multicountry research initiative found that 30 per cent of global species threats are due to international trade. The study’s results emphasized that biodiversity loss be examined as a global systemic phenomenon, instead of looking at the degrading or polluting producers in isolation. Institutional initiatives thro – ugh protected area management, excluding the people, especially in forest areas, have been widely attempted in the preceding decades. They have not always proved to be very effective. The challenge has been stiffer in the non-forest areas, where rural livelihoods and urban land-use change are involved.

An ecosystem where such conservation has been constantly challenging is wetlands, especially urban wetlands. Wetlands conservation is crucial for the protection of biodiversity because wetlands provide the freshwater base needed to nurture a variety of flora and fauna that give us food, fibre and fuel. Wetlands are a critical aspect of nature that actually help human life flourish. There are also human made wastewater wetlands. They house lesser diversity of flora and fau – na, are found closer to urban areas but serve essential functions ~ treating sewage and nurturing a variety of fish species. There are 750,000 wetlands in India occupying about 15.98 million hectares of land area (National Wetlands Decadal Change Atlas ~ 2021), directly and indirectly supporting the livelihoods of millions of Indians. At present, 85 wetlands have been designated as Ramsar Wetlands or Wetlands of International Importance.

Many wetlands, including Ramsar Wetlands, are threatened by reclamation and degradation, landfill, over exploitation and climate change, resulting in loss of biodiversity and ecosystem benefits to the society. Institutional responses at the government level tend to focus more on data gathering, monitoring and capacity-building. One such example is the Indo-German Biodiversity Programme, which has a full component titled Wetlands Management for Biodiversity and Climate Protection. The focus is on conservation of Ramsar Wetlands through management planning, developing a monitoring system for wetlands, stakeholder capacity development and a small community engagement component. Far more important but receiving far less attention, is the financing of actual ecosystem and biodiversity management measures, which will ensure the preservation of biodiversity. Let us examine an example. The East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) were recognised as a Ramsar site in 2002 and have completed more than 20 years since such recognition. Spread over 12,500 hectares in the periphery of Kolkata, these wetlands treat city sewage through fish culture, ensuring livelihood for a 130,000 strong community. In 2018, after much foot-dragging, an Integrated Management Plan was commissioned by the East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority (EKWMA). The consultants who wrote the Plan in 2021 suggested the complete shutdown of some of the largest fish ponds, recommending the growing of wetland vegetation there instead.

They had little understanding that such a step would undermine the crucial sewage treatment function of these unique wetlands and compromise the abundance of the fish population. Originally, the Integrated Management Plan asked for Rs 110 crore over a five-year time period, to be contributed in a 60:40 ratio by the government of India and the government of West Bengal. Afterwards, it was found out that the entire budget for the conservation of wetlands all over India was Rs 50 crore a year! Eventually, only Rs 66 crore was sanctioned for a five-year time frame for this unique, complex ecosystem that needs very nuanced management. The crux of the conservation of these wetlands lies in excavating the canals that carry the sewage supply, and the desiltation of the fish ponds to improve their water holding capacity.

This will enable diverse fish culture. No authority seems to be prepared to take these critical steps and ensure that the earlier varieties that were found in these once highly productive fish ponds are brought back through appropriate management. Back in 1997, a baseline document prepared for drawing up a management action plan for East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW), mentioned that 55 per cent of fish population in these ponds consisted of Indian Major Carp (Rohu, Catla, Mrigala). Then came some varieties of exotic carp that constituted about 13 per cent of the total production. Tilapiya constituted about 22 per cent. There were also a variety of forage fishes found in the ponds in EKW. These were Punti, Shoal, Lata, Chyang, Folui and catfish such as Singi, Magur and others. Prolonged siltation has resulted in proliferation of Tilapiya that thrives in shallow pond environments.

The Tilapiya crowd out other fish varieties, especially Indian Major Carp and also fetch a far smaller price than what carp varieties fetch in the market. The harsh reality is that local fish varieties have become rarer. Biodiversity conservation may appear difficult to understand but its role in sustaining us can never be overstated. It should involve an understanding of finance, planning and execution and not so much flashy policy briefs and large amounts of lecturing and paperwork. It needs a re-orientation of priorities to ensure long-term survival.

(The writer is a wetland researcher with over two decades of association with the East Kolkata Wetlands)