East Kolkata Wetlands
 

Restoration & Sustainable Development of East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW): A Threatened Ramsar Site


Poster expression by SAFE during Jalabhumi Utsav

East Kolkata Ramsar site, spread across 12,500 ha is known as model of multiple use wetlands having resource recovery system. It is facing threat of being removed from Ramsar list on pretext of habitat destruction, waste escalation, encroachment and exploitation. The main challenge in saving the wetland is that the livelihood of nearly 1.5 lakh inhabitants is directly or indirectly bestowed on wetland resources. The project undertaken by SAFE aims to conserve the site for long-term sustainable environmental development through community participation and partnership by means of ecological restoration, habitat evaluation, biodiversity indexing alternative farming for expanding economic opportunity and adaptive environmental management.

Why East Kolkata Wetlands?

Sometimes called the “Kidneys of Kolkata (Calcutta),” the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKWs) are the largest of their kind in the world, covering an area of 12,500 hectares which were designated as a RAMSAR* site in 2002.

* EKW recycles some 680m liters of raw sewage every day. The wetlands' mosaic comprised of ponds, lakes, channels and swamps are the only sewage treatment facility for 12 million people of the city Kolkata.

* EKW produces more than 13,000 tones of fish annually, whose yield at 2-4 times higher than average fish ponds, is among the best of any freshwater pisciculture in the country. Some 150 tonnes of vegetables per day are harvested from small-scale plots irrigated with wastewater.

* EKW is a bio-diversity storehouse with over 100 plant species, rare mammals including the marsh mongoose, the small Indian mongoose, the palm and Indian civets, and the threatened Indian mud turtle. There are also some 40 species of birds, both local and migratory, which include kingfishers, grebes, cormorants, egrets, terns, eagles and sandpipers.

* EKW like other wetlands of the world acts as a carbon sink and helps reduce green house gases. It also provides functions like flood control, ground water replenishment, controls pollution largely.

Major Threats on EKW

Wetlands have often been termed as wastelands. As a result, wetlands have been actively drained and converted to other uses. In recent times the EKW is facing threats of getting removed from the international Ramsar list due to changes in land use pattern and habitat loss.

Some of the major threats on EKW are:

  • Unscrupulous encroachment and invasion of real estate dealers is causing fast feeling-up of water-bodies and wetlands. It is shrinking at an alarming rate of nearly 0.97% per annum

  • Noxious waste escalation and bio-magnification rendering loss of nutrient values of wetland products

  • Poaching and captivation of endemic and endangered fauna of EKW like Mud Turtle and Marsh Mongoose

  • EKW being used for solid waste dumping is posing a potent threat to the ecosystem as a whole. Decomposing garbage being sources of green house gases, hazardous untreated hospital contaminants and other pollutants are increasing health risk for the dwellers

  • Lack of basic facilities for health education and sanitation is making the condition even worse for the wetland dwellers in EKW

Activities Undertaken by SAFE


Mrigal Fingerlings Being Released into the Water

SAFE has been successful in developing functional networking among the wetland dwellers through community based participatory efforts. So far the NGO has been successful in implementation of its preliminary plans…

Some of the measures taken are summarized hereunder:

  • Developing partnership and participation with local stakeholders

  • Structuring and installing sociometric survey in the wetland area

  • Concentrating on listing species richness and collecting information on the proportions of a few species of particular concern.

  • Sample

  • Organizing health camp and health impact assessment studies in the study area

  • Providing adequate sanitation facility for the local dwellers of EKW

  • Project designing and communicating proposals to funding agencies

  • Informing local media the right perspective of the situation

  • Sharing the crisis with International apex bodies for remediation

  • Continuously updating the government of the situation both at the local and the central level, which has eventually created some scope for discussion in order to address the problem in a more holistic way.

  • Carrying out awareness campaigns at grass-root level in various sections of EKW

  • Conducting seminars at the educational institutes to ensure greater participation of students in the restoration mission of EKW.