1 month ago
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National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) has completed the documentation and Ground-truthing of Maharashtra’s 23,415 wetlands, paving the mode to formally notify and bring the h2o bodies nether ineligible extortion nether the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules.
According to the Maharashtra wetlands dashboard maintained by the NCSCM data, Chattrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Nagpur part has the highest wetlands successful Maharashtra, with 5,196 and 5,086 wetlands respectively.
The Ahmednagar territory has the highest fig of wetlands successful the State astatine 1,596, followed by Nashik with 1,236 and Chandrapur which has 1,231. The wetlands documented besides includes 247 successful Thane, 1,093 successful Raigad, 37 successful Mumbai metropolis and 210 successful Mumbai suburban districts.
Maharashtra authorities tasked NCSCM, functioning nether the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to bash outer mapping, documentation and tract verification of wetlands identified nether the National Wetlands Inventory and Assessment launched by the Centre astir 2 decades ago.
Ground-truthing for 11 wetlands located successful Pune among the 2,3415 is remaining. Ground-truthing means the process of carnal verification of wetlands connected tract to corroborate their existence, boundaries, ecological information and contiguous onshore usage against outer imagery — a important measurement earlier wetlands tin beryllium officially notified nether biology extortion laws.
The wetlands play relation successful flood buffering, groundwater recharge, c sequestration and biodiversity conservation. They besides enactment arsenic earthy sponges during utmost rainfall events — a relation that has go progressively important amid changing clime patterns and recurring municipality floods.
The MoEFCC launched the decadal-change mentation of the National Wetland Atlas successful 2020 to way changes successful wetlands implicit time, but Maharashtra’s ground-truthing workout continued to lag for years thereafter. The Maharashtra workout gathered momentum pursuing ineligible interventions by Vanashakti and consequent Supreme Court directions asking States and Union Territories to implicit wetland demarcation and verification successful a time-bound manner.
According to the Environmental groups, it is simply a captious measurement arsenic this volition forestall wetlands, which are not officially notified from becoming a dumping yard. The un-notified wetlands are treated arsenic reclamation, debris dumping, encroachments and demolition successful the sanction of infrastructure development.
“This process should not person taken 16 years aft the National Wetland Atlas was launched,” said B.N. Kumar, manager of NatConnect Foundation. He besides pointed retired that the prolonged hold has already caused sizeable harm to Maharashtra’s wetland ecosystem, peculiarly successful biodiversity-rich areas of Uran and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
“The burial of wetlands successful Uran has already triggered unseasonal flooding and compensation payouts worthy crores from taxpayers’ money. This could person been avoided had the authorities acted successful clip to sphere these earthy drainage systems,“ said Nandakumar Pawar, manager of Sagarshakti.
