‘T.N. is for wise use of wetlands’

There will be no further degradation of wetlands declared as Ramsar sites, says Deepak Srivastava, TN State Wetland Authority member secretary

The launch of a wetland mission, grasping an opportunity and hard work have helped Tamil Nadu emerge as a top State with the highest number of Ramsar sites in the country.

Deepak Srivastava, APCCF and Member Secretary, TN State Wetland Authority, revealed how Tamil Nadu had managed to take the top spot (along with U.P.) and the State’s plans to manage and conserve these wetlands, now of international importance.

After the launch of the wetland mission, it was decided to increase the number of Ramsar sites. “Otherwise, any expert on wetland would come and ask us why is there only one wetland with Ramsar tag when T.N. has launched a specific mission,” he said. This set the ball rolling and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), by then, had decided to increase the number of wetlands with Ramsar recognition to 75 to coincide with India’s 75th Independence Day.

“About seven to eight DFOs worked day and night along with the few staff at the mission, supervised by department secretary [Supriya Sahu]. We managed to send 13 proposals. Some in the MoEF even laughed at us for sending so many proposals. We decided to seize the moment and use the opportunity but we did not know then how hard we had to work for it,” he recalled.

Kodiakkarai was the only Ramsar site. Of the 13 proposals, nine have now now got the Ramsar tag. Four more are pending. “Any mission launched should have to achieve something very big. We decided to secure our wetlands. The Ramsar recognition is a step further to secure our wetlands. There is a huge difference between 1 and 10.”

“Ramsar secretariat is so tough and strict in scrutiny. Now, the Ramsar tag has put our wetlands under international watch. It will get funding but if the ecological conditions deteriorate further, they will put the wetlands under Montreux Record. It is an alert to us. It means if we don’t improve, they will delete it,” he said.