Enobile Sylvanus Mohammad Nayeem Aziz Ansari Wetland loss and Degradation and Recommendation for Sustainable Management Enobile Sylvanus Mohammad Nayeem Aziz Ansari

Below are terms used for various types of wetlands (Wikipedia): What is wetland? Below are terms used for various types of wetlands (Wikipedia): Bog Moor Fen Fresh-water marsh's Coastal salt marsh Swamp Dambo Mangrove swamp Paperbark Bayou or slough /creek. Constructed wetland Pocosin Seasonally flooded basins or flats. Inland fresh meadows. Inland shallow fresh water. Difficult to give a common definition of wetland as there are several types of wetland existing all over the world. United States Army Corps of Engineers and United States Environmental Protection Agency - areas inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetations typically adapted for life in saturated soils - e.g swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. Major type Sub type SALT WATER WETLAND Marine Estuarine FRESH WATER WETLAND Riverine Lacustrine Palustrine MAN MADE WETLAND Aquaculture/ Mari culture Agriculture Urban / Industrial Water store area (Dugan, 1990)

What is happening? Some estimates show……. The world may have lost 50% of the wetlands that existed since 1900; whilst much of this occurred in the northern countries during the first 50 years of the century, increasing pressure for conversion to alternative land use has been put on tropical and sub-tropical wetlands since the 1950s. The extent of wetland loss and degradation worldwide only due to drainage for agricultural production and urbanization by 1985…… Europe and N America 56-65% tropical and subtropical regions were 27% for Asia, 6% for S America and 2% for Africa (Ramsar Convention, 1991)

EXAMPLES!!!!

Some Definitions (Michael Moser, Crawford Prentice, and Scott Frazier; Wetland International) Wetland loss ……………is the loss of wetland area, due to the conversion of wetland to non- wetland areas, as a result of human activity. Wetland degradation …………… is the impairment of wetland functions as a result of human activity. Wetland loss is difficult and costly to reverse. Changes resulting from wetland degradation are more easily reversed through rehabilitation (the enhancement of the remaining functions and the reintroduction of past functions to degraded wetlands). But both wetland loss and degradation relate to the change in quantity and/or quality of the wetland resource.

Causes for wetland loss and degradation Activities resulting in wetlands loss and degradation include: agriculture; commercial and residential development; road construction; impoundment; resource extraction; industrial siting, processes, and waste; dredge disposal; silviculture; and mosquito control (USEPA 1994b; USEPA 1993a). And the primary pollutants causing degradation of wetlands. ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIVITIES Hydrologic Alteration; Urbanization (including development); Marinas/Boats; Industry (including industrial development); Agriculture; Silviculture/Timber Harvest; Mining; Atmospheric Deposition POLLUTANTS sediment, nutrients, pesticides, salinity, heavy metals, weeds, low dissovled oxygen, pH and swlenium WETLAND LOSS AND DEGRADATION

√ √ ..... √ ....... Activities Effects Causes Actions Degradation Loss Hydrologic Alteration drainage, dredging, stream channelization, ditching, levees, deposition of fill material, stream diversion, ground water withdrawal, and impondment.   √  √ Urbanization Encroachment of wetland; Construction activities . increases in pollutant inputs; and changes in species composition   Marinas/Boats Marina construction Intense boating  ..... Industrial Development From establishment to produced goods Agriculture harvesting food, fiber, or forest products; minor drainage; maintenance of drainage ditches; construction and maintenance of irrigation ditches; construction and maintenance of farm or forest roads; maintenance of dams, dikes, and levees; direct and aerial application of damaging pesticides ground water withdrawals. Grazing    √ Silviculture Drainage, clearing, haul road construction, rutting, and ditching Pesticides and fertilizers used during silvicultural  ....... Mining Peat mining, other mining like Phosphate mining Atmospheric Deposition Nitrous oxides, sulfurous oxides, heavy metals, volatilized pesticides, hydrocarbons, radionuclides, and other organics and inorganics released from agriculture and industrial activities

Some consequences of wetland loss and degradation (Davies & Claridge 1993) Impaired or reduced: water supply directly to people, to an aquifer, or to another wetland; water flow regulation and flood control; prevention of saline intrusion to both ground and surface water; protection against natural forces (coastal erosion and hurricanes and flooding); ability to retain sediments and nutrients; ability to remove toxins from effluents/polluted water; availability of natural wetland products; opportunity for water transport; gene bank for future commercial exploitation or maintenance of wildlife populations; significance for conservation of species, landscapes or habitats; recreation and tourism opportunity; socio-cultural significance; opportunity for research and education;

Sustainable management Wetlands be designated as reserves Making wise use of wetlands Political support to wetland and water issues Strategies should be taken at different level: international, National, Regional and local Establish programmes to monitor change in ecological character. Information on the loss and degradation of wetlands Increase the public awareness about the benefits (multifunctional) of wetlands