Lok Sabha Question No. 5073 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-04-03
Subject: Assessment of the Wetlands
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi, Margani Bharat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5073

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.04.2023

## Assessment of the Wetlands

## 5073.   SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI: SHRI MARGANI BHARAT:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  been  conducting  any  assessment  of  areas classified as wetlands in the country, if so, the total area declared as wetlands in the country, State-wise including Odisha;
- (b) the total area classified as Ramsar sites in thecountry;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  any  holistic  and  standardized  protocol  for monitoring the ecological condition of wetlands across the country;
- (d) the details of degraded wetland across thecountry and whether the Government has taken any steps towards restoration of degraded wetland;
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  any  specificfund  towards  conservation  of wetlands, if so, the details thereof;
- (f) whether there has been a reduction in thearea of existing wetlands; and
- (g) the steps taken by the Government to protectand conserve the wetland in the country, including in the State of Odisha?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a)      As  per  the  "National  Wetland  Decadal  Change  Atlas,  2017  published  by  Space Applications Centre- ISRO Ahmedabad, a total of 2,31,195 wetlands (at 1:50000 scales and area >= 2.25 ha) have been mapped in the Country.  The total wetland area estimated is  15.98  million  hectare  (mha)  including  rivers  and  excluding  paddy  field  areas  that  is around  4.86%  of  the  geographic  area  of  the  country.    The  State/UT-wise  wetland distribution including Odisha is at Annexure-1.
- (b)          India  has  designated  75  Wetlands  of  International  Importance  as  Ramsar  sites covering an area of 1.33 million ha across the country.
- (c)        As  per  the  Wetlands  (Conservation  &  Management)  Rules,  2017,  the  National Wetlands Committee (NWC) at national level and State Wetlands Authorities (SWAs)/ Union TerritoryWetlandsAuthoritiesat state/ UT level have been constituted. The SWAs are  responsible  for  effective  conservation,  management  and  monitoring  of  ecological conditionof wetlands within their jurisdiction. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and

Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has published comprehensive guidelines for implementing Wetlands  (Conservation  &  Management)  Rules,  2017.  The  above-said guidelines recommend  the  management  of  each  notified  wetland  to  be  guided  by  an  Integrated Management  Plan (IMP) which inter-alia describes monitoring requirements for detecting changes in ecological character and for measuring theeffectiveness of management.

(d)  to  (g)  Scientific  details  regarding  the  degraded  wetlands  across  the  countryare  not available,  however,  as  per  the  'National  Decadal  Wetlands  Change  Atlas,'  released  by MoEF&CC  in  February  2022,  as  an  outcome  of  'National  Wetland  Inventory  and Assessment - 2 nd Cycle' project of the Space Application Center, the number and extent of wetlands having area equal to or greater than 2.25 ha has increased by 18,810and 0.64 million ha respectively during the assessment period 2006-07 to 2017-18.

Ministry has taken several steps for conservation and management of wetlands across the country. 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,  MoEF&CC is implementing a  centrally sponsored scheme namely, NPCA for conservation and management of identified wetlands (includes lakes) in the country on cost  sharing  basis  between  Central  Government  and  respective  State  Governments including  Odisha.  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. So far, MoEF&CC has sanctioned proposals for conservation of 165 wetlands across the country, including 42 Ramsar sites and released an amount of about Rs. 1088.852 Crores as central share. This amount includes central share of Rs. 37.08418 crores released so far to Government of Odisha for conservation and  management  of  Chilika  lake  (Rs.  28.33288  cr.),  Ansupa  (Rs.  6.44468  cr.),  Kanjia (Rs. 0.9563 cr.), Daha (Rs. 0.506 cr.) and Kuanria (Rs. 0.84432 cr.) in Odisha.

The  Ministry had also undertaken 'Wetlands Rejuvenation' programme  within the framework  of  169  transformative  ideas  of  Government  of  India  i.e.  'Start  work  on Restoration & Rejuvenation of at least 100 major wetlands across the country'.  In the first  cycle  of  the  programme,  130  wetlands  were  selected  in  consultation  with  State Governments  for  which  collection  of  baseline  information  and  rapid  assessment  of wetlands condition was done during the 100 days implementation period. Based on the health status, 32 wetlands were identified and concerned States/UTs were advised to take necessary action for their rejuvenation and restoration.

Ministry has launched Mission Sahbhagita, on the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, which is an important step towards participatory conservation and wise use of wetlands to enable  a  society  ownership  approach  with  communities  leading  at  the  forefront.  The Ministry  has  also  launched  'Save  Wetlands  Campaign'  as  part  of  this  Mission  on 04.02.2023 at Goa on the occasion of World Wetlands Day 2023.

## Annexure-1

## Annexure-1 referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 5073 to be answered on 3 rd April, 2023 on 'Assessment of the Wetlands' State-wise wetland distribution in India

| Decadal wetland inventory in different States   | Decadal wetland inventory in different States   | Decadal wetland inventory in different States   | Decadal wetland inventory in different States   | Decadal wetland inventory in different States   |
|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.                                          | State Name                                      | Number                                          | 2017-18 Area (ha)                               | Area (% of wetland)                             |
| 1                                               | Andhra Pradesh                                  | 24104                                           | 1141606                                         | 7.14                                            |
| 2                                               | Arunachal Pradesh                               | 1182                                            | 151104                                          | 0.95                                            |
| 3                                               | Assam                                           | 5902                                            | 849078                                          | 5.31                                            |
| 4                                               | Bihar                                           | 4526                                            | 374766                                          | 2.34                                            |
| 5                                               | Chhattisgarh                                    | 11457                                           | 342443                                          | 2.14                                            |
| 6                                               | Goa                                             | 742                                             | 24749                                           | 0.15                                            |
| 7                                               | Gujarat                                         | 17613                                           | 3499429                                         | 21.9                                            |
| 8                                               | Haryana                                         | 1905                                            | 33649                                           | 0.21                                            |
| 9                                               | Himachal Pradesh                                | 215                                             | 94011                                           | 0.59                                            |
| 10                                              | Jharkhand                                       | 2635                                            | 187045                                          | 1.17                                            |
| 11                                              | Karnataka                                       | 14936                                           | 787127                                          | 4.93                                            |
| 12                                              | Kerala                                          | 1399                                            | 158336                                          | 0.99                                            |
| 13                                              | Madhya Pradesh                                  | 13947                                           | 861736                                          | 5.39                                            |
| 14                                              | Maharashtra                                     | 25935                                           | 1152625                                         | 7.21                                            |
| 15                                              | Manipur                                         | 132                                             | 67408                                           | 0.42                                            |
| 16                                              | Meghalaya                                       | 225                                             | 31002                                           | 0.19                                            |
| 17                                              | Mizoram                                         | 127                                             | 19476                                           | 0.12                                            |
| 18                                              | Nagaland                                        | 148                                             | 21118                                           | 0.13                                            |
| 19                                              | Odisha                                          | 13331                                           | 719942                                          | 4.5                                             |
| 20                                              | Punjab                                          | 1190                                            | 47024                                           | 0.29                                            |
| 21                                              | Rajasthan                                       | 13321                                           | 778824                                          | 4.87                                            |
| 22                                              | Sikkim                                          | 259                                             | 7049                                            | 0.04                                            |
| 23                                              | Tamil Nadu                                      | 26883                                           | 925712                                          | 5.79                                            |
| 24                                              | Telangana                                       | 12338                                           | 566680                                          | 3.55                                            |
| 25                                              | Tripura                                         | 416                                             | 18438                                           | 0.12                                            |
| 26                                              | Uttar Pradesh                                   | 18555                                           | 1104562                                         | 6.91                                            |
| 27                                              | Uttarakhand                                     | 172                                             | 112882                                          | 0.71                                            |
| 28                                              | West Bengal                                     | 12955                                           | 1130127                                         | 7.07                                            |
| 29                                              | Andaman&Nicobar                                 | 2774                                            | 143238                                          | 0.9                                             |

| 30   | Chandigarh        |     11 |      336 |      0 |
|------|-------------------|--------|----------|--------|
| 31   | Dadra NagarHaveli |     12 |     2063 |   0.01 |
| 32   | Daman and Diu     |     59 |     2728 |   0.02 |
| 33   | Delhi             |    123 |     2773 |   0.02 |
| 34   | Jammu &Kashmir    |    404 |   164110 |   1.03 |
| 35   | Lakshadweep       |     50 |    79716 |   0.5  |
| 36   | Ladakh            |   1073 |   373049 |   2.33 |
| 37   | Puducherry        |    139 |     5555 |   0.03 |
|      | Total             | 231195 | 15981516 | 100    |