Wetland Governance in the Age of Climate Change

In the age of climate change and disasters, wetlands and lakes hold a significantly important position, especially in urban areas. They create a natural mechanism to control the impacts of storm water run-off from rooftops, parking lots and roads by removing suspended solids and also control the level of phosphorous because of the presence of biofilms which increases the efficiency of the natural pollution management in the aquatic system.

India is a relatively progressing country in terms of wetland management, while it is facing severe challenges in maintaining this fragile ecosystem, having already lost one third of its wetlands. Rapid and uncontrolled urban expansion has led to imbalances in the water system which has disrupted not only the vegetation cycle but also brought huge damage to the wetland natural ecosystem and weakened the absorption capacity of the land.  As a result, drains have been choked leading to the frequent water logging in most parts of the cities, especially during the monsoon season.

Such decline in wetlands could actually result in a disequilibrium in the natural food chain, thereby impacting not only the natural vegetation and environment, but also the fragile urban ecosystem which is largely dependent on the former. Therefore, Urban Wetland governance must be a part of the larger planning process which should adopt the principle of resilience and sustainable land use.

The presentation will focus on the biggest challenges of wetland governance in contemporary India and provide comparison with similar current issues in the European countries.

Mukunda Upadhyay is currently working with Oxfam India and leading the projects on Disaster Risk Reduction, Water Governance and Humanitarian response. He is also submitting his PhD thesis on Migration and Urban Spaces to the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawarahal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Online seminars are organized through Zoom. Registration is required in order to receive access information. Link to the registration is available HERE.