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

2. 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)

3. 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 %
tropical and subtropical regions were 27% for Asia,
6% for S America and
2% for Africa
(Ramsar Convention, 1991)

4. EXAMPLES!!!!

5. 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.

6. 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

7. √ √ ..... √ ....... 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

8. 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;

9. 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