Assam wetland at risk till dumping stops: activists

GS Paper 3:

Topic covered: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation;

Context: Degradation of Assam’s Deepor Beel due to anthropogenic forces

More on this:

• Human activities which have caused this destruction– dumping of garbage, construction of roads and railways, construction of warehouses, tourism activities
• This degradation has caused death of elephants in railway accidents, fewer elephants visiting the wetland due to deteriorating quality of water due garbage dumping, reduction in the number of fishes available for fishermen etc
• About Deepor Beel:

1. Deepor Beel is a Ramsar site and a part of it is also wildlife sanctuary (Rani Reserve forest) in Guwahati, Assam.
2. Deepor Beel is a permanent freshwater lake, in an earlier channel of the Brahmaputra River, to the south of the main river.
3. The site is an important destination for many migratory species of birds

• What is Ramsar convention? It is an international treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands, named after the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the Caspian Sea, where the treaty was signed on 2 February 1971.

Insta-curious link

Know about all the wetland sites in India: Click here

Prelims link

1. What is a wetland?
2. Ramsar sites in India
3. Sites in India which is included in Montreux record
4. About Deepor Beel
5. Brahmaputra river
6. Wetlands related rules and institutions in the country

Mains link

Explain the reasons behind the degradation of wetlands and measures required to overcome these challenges

Source: The Hindu