1980) provided the necessary backdrop for the establishment of a national programme on wetlands, which was launched in 1986 for assisting state governments
for implementing management plans for prioritized wetlands (MoEF 1992).
Subsequently, separate programmes for urban wetlands and mangroves and coral
reefs were carved out from the national programme to focus on the issues of urban
pollution and increasing vulnerability of coastal wetlands (DasGupta and Shaw
2013). The national wetlands programme is currently known as the National
Programme for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA) and has subsumed
the programme on urban wetlands (MoEFCC 2019). As of December 2019, over
250 wetlands have been covered under these national programmes, majority being
protected areas, designated for biodiversity values, primarily water birds.
The science base on wetlands, as in Europe, emerged from surveys on wetlands
biota. Bird-ringing programmes were initiated as early as the 1920s, highlighting
the ornithological value of wetlands (Balachandran 1998). Towards the 1940s,
ecologists deepened the science into examining the role of sediments and hydrological regimes in influencing vegetation and other biota (Michael 1980; Gopal
1998). Post-independence, with establishment of CIFRI and launch of International
Biological Programme, more focus on ecosystem processes such as primary production and energy dynamics came in, and pollution garnered interests of
researchers in the 1970s, concurrently with Government of India enacting the Water
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act in 1974 and Central and State Pollution
Control Boards being established. Long-term ecological studies in Keoladeo
National Park (Bharatpur, Rajasthan) were perhaps one of the early ones to start
quantitatively defining water regime requirement of wetlands, though the assessments were only based on habitats of select water bird species (Vijayan 1991).
Towards the 1990s, as the MoEFCC’s national wetlands programme started
gaining strength and increased emphasis was placed on integrated management
plans taking into account their catchments, water balance studies began to be taken
up (NIH 1999, 2000). This was also the period when the impact of water resources
development projects and land use changes on wetlands started garnering the
attention of researchers. In Keoladeo National Park, one of the prime water bird
habitats in eastern Rajasthan, construction of Panchana Dam over Gambhir River
upstream of the park, increasing demand of water for irrigation in the upstream
reaches and increasing variability of rainfall exposed the wetland to risks of prolonged drying and depleting water bird population leading to an intense water
conflict between allocation for wetland versus irrigation needs (Chauhan 2006). In
Loktak, construction of Ithai Barrage was identified as a causative factor for wetland degradation, particularly habitat of globally endangered ungulate species,
Rucervus eldii (Trisal and Manihar 2004). In Chilika, Odisha, changing hydrology
due to reduced connection with the Bay of Bengal was pitted as a significant
causative factor for the decline in fisheries and progression of the estuary towards a
freshwater-dominated state (Kumar et al. 2020). Impact of freshwater flow reduction on mangrove species diversity in Sunderbans, West Bengal (Gopal and
Chauhan 2006), and Pichavaram, Tamil Nadu (Sathyanathan et al. 2014), was also
brought to fore. Elsewhere, the impacts of the transformation of wetlands by
Wetlands and Water Management: Finding a Common Ground
115
for implementing management plans for prioritized wetlands (MoEF 1992).
Subsequently, separate programmes for urban wetlands and mangroves and coral
reefs were carved out from the national programme to focus on the issues of urban
pollution and increasing vulnerability of coastal wetlands (DasGupta and Shaw
2013). The national wetlands programme is currently known as the National
Programme for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA) and has subsumed
the programme on urban wetlands (MoEFCC 2019). As of December 2019, over
250 wetlands have been covered under these national programmes, majority being
protected areas, designated for biodiversity values, primarily water birds.
The science base on wetlands, as in Europe, emerged from surveys on wetlands
biota. Bird-ringing programmes were initiated as early as the 1920s, highlighting
the ornithological value of wetlands (Balachandran 1998). Towards the 1940s,
ecologists deepened the science into examining the role of sediments and hydrological regimes in influencing vegetation and other biota (Michael 1980; Gopal
1998). Post-independence, with establishment of CIFRI and launch of International
Biological Programme, more focus on ecosystem processes such as primary production and energy dynamics came in, and pollution garnered interests of
researchers in the 1970s, concurrently with Government of India enacting the Water
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act in 1974 and Central and State Pollution
Control Boards being established. Long-term ecological studies in Keoladeo
National Park (Bharatpur, Rajasthan) were perhaps one of the early ones to start
quantitatively defining water regime requirement of wetlands, though the assessments were only based on habitats of select water bird species (Vijayan 1991).
Towards the 1990s, as the MoEFCC’s national wetlands programme started
gaining strength and increased emphasis was placed on integrated management
plans taking into account their catchments, water balance studies began to be taken
up (NIH 1999, 2000). This was also the period when the impact of water resources
development projects and land use changes on wetlands started garnering the
attention of researchers. In Keoladeo National Park, one of the prime water bird
habitats in eastern Rajasthan, construction of Panchana Dam over Gambhir River
upstream of the park, increasing demand of water for irrigation in the upstream
reaches and increasing variability of rainfall exposed the wetland to risks of prolonged drying and depleting water bird population leading to an intense water
conflict between allocation for wetland versus irrigation needs (Chauhan 2006). In
Loktak, construction of Ithai Barrage was identified as a causative factor for wetland degradation, particularly habitat of globally endangered ungulate species,
Rucervus eldii (Trisal and Manihar 2004). In Chilika, Odisha, changing hydrology
due to reduced connection with the Bay of Bengal was pitted as a significant
causative factor for the decline in fisheries and progression of the estuary towards a
freshwater-dominated state (Kumar et al. 2020). Impact of freshwater flow reduction on mangrove species diversity in Sunderbans, West Bengal (Gopal and
Chauhan 2006), and Pichavaram, Tamil Nadu (Sathyanathan et al. 2014), was also
brought to fore. Elsewhere, the impacts of the transformation of wetlands by
Wetlands and Water Management: Finding a Common Ground
115