Mumbai: Dotted with estuaries, marshlands and rivers and surrounded on three sides by the Arabian Sea, Mumbai, with its own coral reef, is truly a city of wetlands. But they are disappearing fast, losing out to development.
In 2000, it took a military operation to halt the march of water hyacinth in Harike, one of the internationally protected wetlands in India, famous for a large number of birds, both local and migratory. The invasive hyacinth problem was squeezing the life out of its 41-square-metre area for some time.
Wetlands have for long remained undefined and there has not been any special enactments for their conservation although they are providing crucial ecosystem services and are sensitive ecosystems with high biodiversity values. In this background the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) effort in drafting the notification on Regulatory Framework for Wetland Conservation in
The Expert Team constituted by the Planning Commission, Government of India, to Review the status of implementation of the National Wetland Conservation and Management Programme (NWCMP) of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, by visiting selected wetlands in the country, made an on-the-spot review and assessment of the Deepor Beel near Guwahati in Assam.
