Though environmentalists managed to get the tag of Flamingo City for Navi Mumbai and succeeded in securing the Ramsar site status for the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS), the euphoria appears to be short-lived as wetlands continue to be in danger.
Marking World Wetlands Day on Feb 2, green activists said though the participation of the younger generation in saving these distinct ecosystems is encouraging, agencies responsible must act honestly.
Aishwarya Sridhar, a young wildlife photographer from Navi Mumbai who won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of 2020, said that many of our wetlands are being reclaimed for development work, which is “absolutely suicidal” as we can never trade ecology for economy because without fresh air and water mankind will face gradual extinction.
“Wetlands are precious ecosystems that act like sentinels of our shores protecting the inland from floods and soil erosion... they also act as carbon sinks and help mitigate climate change,” Sridhar said.
Environmentalists said that on the one hand they are fighting to conserve the city’s wetlands, while on the other government agencies are burying our water bodies for real estate development.
Activist Stalin Dayanand, who is also a member of the High Court-appointed committee to save mangroves and wetlands in Maharashtra, said there is a need to change the mindset of government agencies. “Wetlands are protected under the Environment Protection Act and agencies that have the responsibility to protect them have no interest in it,” alleged Stalin, adding that the forest department has some interests but doesn’t have the power to protect.
Now, a new trend has emerged that government agencies are not even ready to accept wetlands and look for reasons to deny the tag technically, environmentalists claimed. “Any waterbody where water is available for three months in a year is a wetland and government agencies have to protect it,” said Stalin.
Dr Afroz Ahmad, principal judge and expert member of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), who was also a former member of the National wetland committee, said there has been a lot of awareness to save wetlands in the last five years. “There were good judgments on the protection of wetlands across the country by the NGT. This has encouraged people fighting to save wetlands,” he said, adding that the tribunal has given clear guidelines to save even a pond bog.
BN Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation, said, “We have miles to go in terms of securing our biodiversity as wetlands, mangroves and the hills face constant threats even from the government-owned agencies.
