The Hindu Business Line : Vembanad lake conservation plan still in limbo

A good portion of this wetland has been converted into paddy fields, which remain waterlogged for six months a year. Some areas are left fallow throughout the year.

Kochi , March 26

Conservation of the Vembanad wetland system, which was included in the National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) in June 2003, still remains a non-starter, as the Government is yet to prepare an action plan for that.

Considering the fragile ecosystem of the wetland, deterioration of water quality and consequent damage to aquatic organisms and the shrinkage of Vembanad Lake, this wetland system was included in the NLCP by the National River Conservation Authority, chaired by the Prime Minister under the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). But, so far no action has emanated from the authorities, say environmental activists.

Under the NLCP, projects of conservation and management of polluted lakes are taken up on 70:30 cost sharing between the Central and State Governments as in the case of river action plans. In the 2006-07 Union Budget, Rs 363 crore has been provided for the River Action Plan and Rs 286 crore for the NLCP.

In fact, it is high time that the authorities evolved a sustainable action plan to conserve the Vembanad wetland system, one of the major systems designated in Nov 2002 as Ramsar Site in India, Mr N.K. Sukumaran Nair, General Secretary, Pampa Parirakshana Samithi, an NGO fighting for its conservation, told Business Line.

He said that the shrinkage of Vembanad Lake to 37 per cent (13,224 ha) of its original area of 36,329 ha as a result of land reclamation, had been the most important environmental consequence of various human interventions.

The water carrying capacity of the system has been reduced to an abysmal 0.6 km3 from 2.4 km3 (Km3 = cubic kilometre).

Vembanad Lake along with the adjacent wetland over the eastern and southern sides forms Kuttanadu, the rice bowl of Kerala and the largest wetland system in the Western coast of the country. Five rivers originating in the western ghats drain into this lake.

A good portion of this wetland has been converted into paddy fields, which remain waterlogged for six months a year. Some areas are left fallow throughout the year. Every year, tonnes of insecticides, weedicides, fungicides and chemical fertilisers reach this wetland.

The fragile ecosystem of the wetland, he said, influences the life and health of people living in and around the region and is important for conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the ecological and hydrological functions they perform.

Being at the confluence of the rivers and the sea, and blessed by the fertile flows from both the sea and river, these fascinating biotopes locally referred to as `Vembanad Kayal', are the most productive ecosystem in the country, abode of unique species of plants and animals, Mr Nair said.

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