The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : “More efforts needed to save wetland systems”

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Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009
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“More efforts needed to save wetland systems”

Special Correspondent

Beth Middleton, research ecologist, calls for urgent intervention due to climate change

— Photo: S. R. Raghunathan

Preserving Ecology: (From left ) Ajay Parida, executive director, MSSRF; Beth Middleton, U.S. based research ecologist; and M.S.Swaminathan, chairman, MSSRF, at a programme in Chennai on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: Scientists and research institutions need to collaborate more closely to evolve new strategies for sustainable utilisation of wetland ecosystems, Beth Middleton, research ecologist with the National Wetlands Research Centre, Lafayette, Louisiana, US, said on Tuesday.

In her special address at a roundtable discussion hosted by the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai and the Dr. M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) on “Climate Change and the Future of Wetlands,” Dr. Middleton advocated dialogue at the inter-institution level and among scientists and ecology researchers for preserving wetland systems that have been used and abused for generations.

Dr. Middleton noted that the looming threat of climate change and its disastrous consequences for mankind invested an added urgency to globally coordinated efforts to protect rapidly shrinking wetland ecosystems of the world. In fact, India’s worries were linked to predictions of a 10 per cent increase in rainfall and rise in temperatures precipitated by climate change. The consequences of such phenomena would include frequent flooding of wetlands and lengthy droughts, she said. Pointing out that since early days of civilisation, village communities had sprouted around wetlands, Dr. Middleton said these eco systems had served as “the neighbourhood shopping mart” that supplied most of the requirements of mankind.

Dr. Middleton noted that though surveys showed that bio diversity was by and large intact in spite of the onslaught of development, it was difficult to hazard a guess on how long these eco systems would survive if a sustainable use strategy could not be evolved. Later, taking questions at an interface, Dr. Middleton said the scale of degradation of wetlands, which were a vital ecological resource, necessitated the urgent framing of improved preservation methods. On how conservation efforts would strike a balance between preservation of wetlands and minimising ill effects of methane emissions of these eco systems, Dr. Middleton said she preferred techniques to capture the toxic gases that wetlands have been producing from time immemorial to “scary engineering solutions” that interfered with the natural process of these systems often dubbed “carbon sinks.”

MSSRF chairman Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, while calling for partnerships with the Louisiana-based research institution, pointed out that wetland conservation efforts in the Indian situation needed to combine social sustainability in terms of livelihoods with environmental sustainability.

“Rather than a purely technical approach, wetland conservation initiatives should take into account the livelihood dimension,” Dr. Swaminathan said. Citing Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Swaminathan pointed out that sea water should be regarded as a social resource as it accounted for 97 per cent of the world’s surface water spread.

V. Selvam, Programme Director, Coastal Systems Research gave an overview of MSSRF’s initiatives on mangrove conservation while Bala Ravi, MSSRF scientist, summarised the findings and recommendations of an MSSRF-led status report on the unique Kuttanad eco system in Kerala. In his introductory remarks, Ajay Parida MSSRF executive director said preservation of coastal eco systems was relevant to India which had a nearly 7,500 km shoreline.

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