Lakes, Ponds and Wetlands

Featured Articles
December 4, 2022
Small scale inland open water fisheries of India
What is the status of inland fisheries in India? Read these situational analysis reports to know about inland fisheries, the life of the fisherfolk, governance and tenure in inland fisheries and threats to the sustainability of inland fisheries.
Fishing in an irrigation canal in Kerala (Image Source: Martin Pilkinton via Wikimedia Commons)
November 25, 2022
Categorising watersheds for freshwater ecosystem conservation in India
These maps at the watershed scales have been made to not only ensure inclusion of different freshwater ecosystems, their connectivity and hydrological processes, but can also provide a spatial context for conservation decisions.
A stream at Anini, Arunachal Pradesh (Image Source: Roshni Arora)
November 16, 2022
Improving community resilience in ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction in India
Adoption of hybrid solutions - grey and green structures appropriate for resilience building
Healthy wetland ecosystems help in reducing disaster risks and managing climate risks (Image: Pxhere)
October 30, 2022
Slow disaster: Political ecology of hazards and everyday life in the Brahmaputra valley, Assam
This book by Dr. Mitul Baruah presents a fascinating, ethnographic account of the challenges faced by communities living in Majuli, India, one of the largest river islands in the world, which has experienced immense socio-environmental transformations over the years, processes that are emblematic of the Brahmaputra Valley as a whole. This is an excerpt from the book.
Floods are recurrent phenomena in Assam (Image: Mitul Baruah)
October 6, 2022
Deteriorating landscapes and threatened ecosystems of Jammu and Kashmir
Rapid urbanisation and faulty land use policies are rapidly destroying forests, grasslands and wetlands in Jammu and Kashmir, India and the ecosystem value services they provide. Can these valuable ecosystems be saved?
Deteriorating ecosystems of Jammu and Kashmir, India (Image Source: tkohli at Flickr via Wikimedia Commons)
August 27, 2022
Himalayan lakes can potentially become long-term sinks of microplastics
Study looks at microplastic types in lakes of Ladakh
(Vinay Goel, Wikimedia Commons)
Videos
An overview on wetlands in India
My disappearing land- Majuli
Tragic tale of Erai
Goa’s mangrove cover increases while Sunderbans’ shrank: ISFR 2021
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 19 Jan, 2022 01:48 PM

Goa’s mangrove cover increases while Sunderbans’ shrank, reports India State of the Forest Report (ISFR) 2021
Mangroves in Sunderbans (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Activists urge Chhattisgarh CM to rethink expansion of mining in Hasdeo Arand forest
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 20 Dec, 2021 06:52 PM

Reconsider decision to expand mining in Hasdeo Arand forest: Activists to Chhattisgarh CM
A devastated forest at a coal mining site. Photo for representation only (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
Indore is still very much water minus
Need to abandon costly centralised systems of wastewater management and raise awareness about decentralised systems
Rahul Banerjee
Posted on 07 Dec, 2021 11:22 AM

Recently, the city of Indore was declared the first water plus city in India under the Swachh Sarvekshan programme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for its ostensibly exemplary wastewater management (Hindustan Times, 2021).
Water harvesters cleaning up water hyacinth from the rivers in Indore (Image: Rahul Banerjee)
Ecosystem services of traditional water bodies
Empirical evidence from West Bengal
Koushik Chowdhury
Bhagirath Behera
Posted on 05 Dec, 2021 04:49 PM

People obtain a variety of benefits, both tangible and intangible, from ecosystems. The complex and dynamic interactions between ecosystems and people have resulted in exponential rise of ecosystem services research in recent decade.
Households living close to tanks pursue a variety of livelihood activities based on resources available in tanks for their sustenance (Image: Amitabha Gupta, Wikimedia Commons)
Mangroves - Wetlands or forests?
Mangroves were treated and managed as forests in colonial times, although they are much similar to wetlands. This led to extensive degradation of mangrove ecosystems in India.
V. Selvam
Posted on 21 Nov, 2021 07:40 PM

Have you noticed short trees or bushes along coastlines with a dense tangle of roots hanging out that makes them look like they are standing on stilts? These are mangroves. Mangroves can be trees, shrubs, ferns and palms that occupy the boundary between the land and the sea.
Mangrove forest at Pichavaram, Tamil Nadu (Image Source: Shankaran Murugan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Jal Jeevan Mission App and Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh launched
Policy matters this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 06 Oct, 2021 11:10 PM

PM Modi launches the Jal Jeevan Mission app and Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh 
An overhead tank in Tamil Nadu that supplies water to a village (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Northeastern states witness highest rates of desertification
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 08 Sep, 2021 09:35 PM

Desertification is accelerating in several northeastern Indian states
Loss of green cover is increasing in the country (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
Desilting their way to water sufficiency
Augmenting tank storage has good impact on the livelihood options of the poor and the marginalised.
Ramesha N
Nivedita Menon
Posted on 03 Sep, 2021 04:21 PM

For over 1,200 livestock of Cheemanahalli, located in the Abludu Gram Panchayat of Sidlaghatta Block, Chikkaballapur District, the village’s cattle pond is the only source of drinking water.
The village pond after the rehabilitation (Image: FES)
Nainital’s water woes: Every drop of rain counts
Nainital, a burgeoning hill town with a huge growing population is faced with water supply issues. Adoption of the practice of rainwater harvesting can lead to a paradigm shift towards better utilisation of the town’s natural water resources.
Nidhi Singh
CEDAR
Posted on 15 Aug, 2021 04:16 PM

Nainital, the jewel of Uttarakhand’s Kumaun region is one of the most popular tourist destinations in northern India.
Naini lake, a natural freshwater body, quenches the thirst of the town (Image: Sanjay Bora)
India now has 46 Ramsar sites as four new wetlands add to the list
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 11 Aug, 2021 12:13 PM

Four more wetlands get the Ramsar tag
Wetlands are an essential component of our ecosystem (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
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