Lok Sabha Question No. 166 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-18
Subject: Protection and Preservation of Wetlands
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Sujay Radhakrishna Vikhepatil, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Kotagiri Sridhar, Krishna Pal Singh Yadav, Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, Kani K. Navas, Shrikant Eknath Shinde

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.166

TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.07.2022

## Protection and Preservation of Wetlands

## 166. DR. SUJAY RADHAKRISHNA VIKHE PATIL:

PROF. RITA BAHUGUNA JOSHI:

SHRI SRIDHAR KOTAGIRI:

DR. KRISHNA PAL SINGH YADAV:

DR. HEENA GAVIT:

SHRI K. NAVASKANI:

DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of wetlands identified in the country, State-wise;
- (b) whether  several  wetland  have  been  encroached  upon  and  some  of  them  have disappeared, if so, the details thereof and reasons thereof;
- (c) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  Government  for  protection  and  preservation  of wetlands;
- (d) whether Government has taken note of threat to wetlands due to rampant encroachment; and
- (e) if so, the details of response of Government thereto?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) As  per  the  National  Wetland  Inventory  &Assessment,  2011,  Space  Applications Centre-  ISRO  Ahmedabad  identified  about  2,01,503  water  bodies/wetlands  (>2.25 hectares). These  include lakes/ponds, ox-bow  lakes, high altitude &  riverine wetlands, waterlogged areas, rivers/streams, tanks, reservoirs, lagoons, creeks, sand beaches, corals, mangroves, mud flats, salt pans, aquaculture ponds, etc. The statewise details are given in Annexure -1 . As per this inventory, the total wetland area estimated including rivers/streams is about 15 million ha and excluding rivers/streams is about 10 million ha.
- (b) to (e) While  the  Central  and  State  Governments  take  all  possible  steps  for  the restoration, conservation and preservation of wetlands (including lakes), developmental activities and anthropogenic pressures do affect water bodies.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has notified Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act,  1986  as  regulatory  framework  for  conservation  and management  of  wetlands  across  country  to  conserve,  manage  and  maintain  the ecological character of the wetlands without restricting the wise use.

Further,  the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  &  Climate  Change  (MoEF&CC)  is currently  implementing  a  centrally  sponsored  scheme  namely,  National  Plan  for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA) for conservation and management of identified  wetlands  (includes  lakes)  in  the  country  on  cost  sharing  basis  between Central Government and respective State Governments. The scheme covers various activities  such  as  interception,  diversion  and  treatment  of  wastewater,  shoreline protection,  lake  front  development,  in-situ  cleaning  i.e.,  desilting  &  de-weeding, storm water management, bioremediation, catchment area treatment, lake beautification,  survey  &  demarcation,  bio-fencing,  fisheries  development,  weed control,  biodiversity  conservation,  education  and  awareness  creation,  community participation, etc.

Four  -  pronged  approach  of  preparing  Brief  Documents,  filling  Ecosystem  Health Cards,  instituting  Wetland  Mitras  and  formulating  Integrated  Management  Plans based  on  the  health  and  specific  threats  facing  the  wetlands,  is  in  place  for conservation  and  management  of  wetlands.    Under  the  NPCA  scheme,  the  central assistance is based on the proposals received from the State Governments in the form of  Integrated Management Plans including brief documents, in conformity with the guidelines and budget availability. So far, MoEF&CC has sanctioned proposals for conservation of 164 wetlands across the country and released an amount of about Rs. 1066.43 Crores as central share.

A dedicated Web  Portal (https:// indianwetlands.in) for Wetlands has been developed,  which  is  a  publicly  available  information  and  knowledge  platform  in order  to  facilitate  knowledge  sharing,  information  dissemination,  host  capacity building  material,  and  provide  a  single-point  access  data  repository  for  processing information and making it available to the stakeholders in an efficient and accessible manner.

A Centre for Wetlands Conservation and Management  (CWCM)  under  the Ministry's National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) has been established to serve as a knowledge hub and enabling to exchange between wetland users,  managers,  researchers,  policy-makers  and  practitioners  and  to  assist  the national and State/ UT Governments in the design and implementation of policy and regulatory  frameworks,  management  planning,  monitoring  and  targeted  research specifically related to wetlands.

*****

Annexure  referred  to  in  reply  to  part  (a)  of  Lok  Sabha  unstarred  Q.  No.  166  to  be answered on 18 th July 2022 on 'Protection and Preservation of Wetlands'

## State-wise wetland distribution in India

( National Wetland Inventory &Assessment, 2011)

| State Code   | State/ Union Territory          | Geographic area (sq.km)   | Wetland area (ha)     |   %of state geographic area |
|--------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------------|
| 1            | Jammu &Kashmir including Ladakh | 222111                    | 391501                |                        1.76 |
| 2            | Himachal Pradesh                | 55673                     | 98496                 |                        1.77 |
| 3            | Punjab                          | 50362                     | 86283                 |                        1.71 |
| 4            | Chandigarh                      | 114                       | 350                   |                        3.07 |
| 5            | Uttarakhand                     | 53566                     | 103882                |                        1.94 |
| 6            | Haryana                         | 49663                     | 42478                 |                        0.86 |
| 7            | Delhi                           | 2966                      | 2771                  |                        0.93 |
| 8            | Rajasthan                       | 342269                    | 782314                |                        2.29 |
| 9            | Uttar Pradesh                   | 240928                    | 1242530               |                        5.16 |
| 10           | Bihar                           | 91689                     | 403209                |                        4.4  |
| 11           | Sikkim                          | 7096                      | 7477                  |                        1.05 |
| 12           | Arunachal Pradesh               | 87658                     | 155728                |                        1.78 |
| 13           | Nagaland                        | 16521                     | 21544                 |                        1.3  |
| 14           | Manipur                         | 22327                     | 63616                 |                        2.85 |
| 15           | Mizoram                         | 21087                     | 13988                 |                        0.66 |
| 16           | Tripura                         | 11040                     | 17542                 |                        1.59 |
| 17           | Meghalaya                       | 22420                     | 29987                 |                        1.34 |
| 18           | Assam                           | 78438                     | 764372                |                        9.74 |
| 19           | West Bengal                     | 88805                     | 1107907               |                       12.48 |
| 20           | Jharkhand                       | 79714                     | 170051                |                        2.13 |
| 21           | Orissa                          | 153845                    | 690904                |                        4.49 |
| 22           | Chhattisgarh                    | 135194                    | 337966                |                        2.5  |
| 23           | Madhya Pradesh                  | 308414                    | 818166                |                        2.65 |
| 24           | Gujarat                         | 197841                    | 3474950               |                       17.56 |
| 25           | Daman &Diu                      | 112                       | 2068                  |                       18.46 |
| 26           | Dadra &Nagar Haveli             | 487                       | 2070                  |                        4.25 |
| 27           | Maharashtra                     | 307748                    | 1014522               |                        3.3  |
| 28           | Andhra Pradesh                  | 275045                    | 1447133               |                        5.26 |
| 29           | Karnataka                       | 191791                    | 643576                |                        3.36 |
| 30           | Goa                             | 3702                      | 21337                 |                        5.76 |
| 31           | Lakshadweep                     | 828                       | 79586                 |                       96.12 |
| 32           | Kerala                          | 38863                     | 160590                |                        4.13 |
| 33           | Tamil Nadu                      | 130409                    | 902534                |                        6.92 |
| 34           | Puducherry                      | 492                       | 6335                  |                       12.88 |
| 35           | Andaman &Nicobar Islands        | 8249                      | 152809                |                       18.52 |
|              | Total                           | 3297467 ( ~329.74mha)     | 15260572 ( ~15.26mha) |                        4.63 |