Union Jal Shakti Ministry makes push for conservation of Ganga wetlands

Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 15

The Union Jal Shakti Ministry has made a push for revival and conservation of the wetlands in the Ganga River basin to further shore up its clean-Ganga Mission-a flagship programme of the Centre.

The Ministry has asked the Deputy Commissioners of the districts concerned in the basin states through its National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to identify the wetlands which are in various stages of disintegration.

“A road map to protect the wetlands has been jointly prepared along  World Wide Fund for Nature-India,” NMCG Director-General Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said. 

The roadmap includes an engagement programme to support and empower the District Ganga Committees (DGCs) with an aim to promote rejuvenation and conservation of urban and rural wetlands at the district level. 

“This engagement is expected to result in a long-term partnership with the DGCs, which will help achieve the objectives of 'aviral dhara' as envisaged by the Namami Gange programme.”

The wetlands play a crucial role in the overall hydrology of a river’s basin region, and contribute to water flows underground and in rivers.

Since this inter-linkage between wetland and river health is not well understood by stakeholders, wetland conservation is not integrated in river basin management

Wetlands are among the most crucial sources of freshwater. They are also among the most productive ecosystems on the planet and render many ecosystem services, including improvement in the quality and quantity of surface and groundwater, protection against floods and droughts, nutrient recycling. Also, they are important biodiversity habitat.

India is extremely rich with regard to its wetland diversity, spanning from alpine wetlands in the Himalayas to mangroves in the coastal regions and corals in the sea and near the shore.

As per the Ganga River Management Plan 2015, there are many lakes, tanks and marshes in the National River Ganga Basin. An integral part of the Central Asian Flyway, the Ganga basin has sixteen Ramsar sites. 

Nearly 50 of the 170 nationally important wetlands are located in the Ganga basin, along with around 116 High Altitude Wetlands of Uttarakhand, and numerous rural and urban wetlands.