New rules for conservation of wetlands raise hope

HYDERABAD: A new hope has dawned for conservation and protection of natural wetlands in and around the city including the Ameenpur lake, which attract a variety of migratory birds every year, with the Union ministry of environment and forests notifying Wetlands (conservation and management) Rules, 2017 by a gazette notification on Tuesday.

The rules, if implemented in letter and spirit by the state government, will help in securing many wetlands in the state. There are at least 150 wetlands in the state measuring above 100 acres in area that cry for serious conservation efforts.

As per the Wetlands Rules, within three months the state government should form State Wetlands Authority (SWA) headed by forest minister as chairperson and consisting of officials from various departments including revenue, tourism, water resources, forest, rural development, urban development, fisheries and irrigation as its members.

An expert each from wetland ecology, hydrology, fisheries, landscape planning and socio-economics nominated by government will also be part of the SWA. A list of all wetlands in the state should be prepared by SWA in six months. Meanwhile, it has to prepare a digital inventory of all wetlands to be uploaded on a dedicated website developed by the Union government within a year.  

An important measure is that in these notified wetlands the discharge of domestic and industrial effluents, the main reason for destruction of wetlands in Telangana, is prohibited. Apart from setting up of industries, dumping of solid, electronic, hazardous and construction wastes, poaching of animals, conversion of wetland area into non-wetland purposes, encroachment and even construction of any permanent structure will also be banned at the notified wetlands.

Dr Vasudeva Rao, ornithologist and faculty member at Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, said, “The government should constitute the state-level authority as mentioned in the rules and, with help of experts, decide the standards for notifying natural wetlands according to various parameters like area, biodiversity and present condition.”