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
Rights of adivasis over forest lands diminishes; their consent no longer mandatory for all development projects taken up on forest land - Roundup of the week’s news (February 11-17, 2013)
Adivasis' rights over forest lands diminishes. Government dilutes its stand on requiring consent from tribals before handing over their forest lands for projects.
The Sangai Express
Nitin Sethi
T.R. Shankar Raman & M.D. Madhusudan
Rajaram Panda & Brahma Chellaney
Krishnendu Mukherjee
Atula Gupta
E. M. Manoj
Posted on 18 Feb, 2013 11:18 PM

Adivasis' rights over forest lands diminishes
Assessing the land use change and its impact on water resources: A study on the Mula and Mutha rivers catchment area in Pune
Analysing the changes in land uses between 1989 and 2009, this paper assesses the impact on water balance in Mula and Mutha Rivers catchment upstream of the city of Pune
K Schneider
P D Wagner
S Kumar
Posted on 17 Feb, 2013 09:11 PM

Land use changes  hydrologic system and have potentially large impacts on water resources. An assessment in an area with seasonally limited water availability and which is subject to rapid socio- economic development and population growth will provide an exemplary view on the local impacts of major recent developments in India. In this backdrop this paper analyzes past land use changes between 1989 and 2009 and their impacts on the water balance in the Mula and Mutha Rivers catchment upstream of Pune. The aim of the paper is:

  • assess the land use changes between 1989/1990 and 2009/2010
  • analyze the impacts of these changes on the long-term water balance components in the Mula and Mutha Rivers catchment upstream of the city of Pune.

Videos: Resurgence of the ahar pynes - Magadh Jal Jamaat helps revive 2000-year old flood water harvesting systems in Gaya, Bihar
A success story on the domino effect created due to revival of a pond in Gaya, Bihar that led to the resurgence of ahar pynes, the traditional water harvesting systems in the region.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 13 Feb, 2013 10:34 AM

Magadh Jal Jamaat, a loose network of progressive individuals in Gaya has been successfully able to revive over a dozen abandoned water sources and have instilled in people the need to create, clean up and conserve several lakes and ponds in the region. 
An exhibition at Studio Safdar in Shadi Khampur traces the history of the urban village and its water systems
Shadi Khampur in West Delhi's rich history and its connect to larger narratives from the past, like the series of land acquisitions in Delhi, the Emergency, and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 which had gone largely undocumented and unarchived have been chronicled in the Neighbourhood Museum of Local History of Shadi Khampur, at Studio Safdar, a cafe cum bookstore. The project attempts to give an account of the living urban habitation and its specific characteristics, as embedded strongly in people's minds. The way the urban spaces of its narrow lanes have grown is really fascinating.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 10 Feb, 2013 07:12 PM

Guest post: Amita Bhaduri

West Delhi’s dusty neighbourhood, Shadi Khampur now has its own museum, in the traditional brick-and-mortar sense. I live nearby, have worked out of an office here and am familiar with the alleyways. But I got to know only now, what life in the neighbourhood was like. Its rich history and its connect to larger narratives from the past, like the series of land acquisitions in Delhi, the Emergency, and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 which had gone largely undocumented and unarchived have been chronicled in the Neighbourhood Museum of Local History of Shadi Khampur, at Studio Safdar, a cafe cum bookstore.

Studio Safdar

Neighbourhood Museum at Studio Safdar

Source: Facebook page on “Public Art Project at Studio Safdar”

The sorry state of Mikkere lake in Malavalli taluk in Karnataka: Photographs by Jaraganhalli Kantharaju
Mikkere lake in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district is in a dismal condition, needing immediate attention if it has to be restored.
Jaraganhalli Kantharaju
Posted on 31 Jan, 2013 06:34 PM

Jaraganhalli Kantharaju shares with us the sorry state of Mikkere lake in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district in Karnataka which is in need of immediate attention and restoration.

 
Videos: Lovraj Kumar panel discussion focuses on the challenges to biodiversity conservation, livelihoods and ecological sustainability
The manner in which biodiversity contributes to poverty reduction and development had recently become a subject of heated debate at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CoP-11) at Hyderabad.
As a curtain raiser to this event, SPWD’s Lovraj Kumar panel discussion on 28th September, 2012 at IIC, New Delhi focused on the challenges to biodiversity conservation, livelihoods and ecological sustainability.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 26 Jan, 2013 04:14 PM

Guest post: Amita Bhaduri
Understanding and conserving urban lakes and wetlands: Report on a course conducted by INTACH at New Delhi, in January 2013
What are wetlands? How do they contribute to the ecological well being of a city? Do they need to be conserved? And if yes, what are the issues and problems involved? This 3 day course by INTACH aimed at clarifying these basic questions, citing a few case studies and cinching it with an informative site visit.
India Water Portal
Posted on 17 Jan, 2013 12:12 PM

Day 1: Introduction to wetlands, their functions, values & importance
Death of tubewells and resurgence of ponds
A story of a brave farmer who followed his heart, dug a pond in his agricultural land and paved the way to a ‘greener’ water rich village.
IWMI Tata
Posted on 07 Jan, 2013 04:46 PM

 

 
A community comes together to revive lakes and ponds in Valni village, Nagpur, Maharashtra
This story demonstrates how one person through his persistence and dedication can make a huge difference in solving water issues at a village level. A visit to Valni village with Yogesh Aneja ji shows us how local villagers have revived a lake that has transformed the village and helped in solving the long term water scarcity problems of the village, and improved the situation of farmers through increase in production.
Aarti Kelkar-Khambete
Posted on 02 Jan, 2013 06:58 PM

Revived lake in Valni

The 200 old revived lake in Valni village, Nagpur
Survey of the environment 2012 - A publication by The Hindu
This report published by The Hindu focuses on the issues related to the environment, nature, conservation and biodiversity and includes contributions from leading experts who talk about a variety of issues ranging from medicinal plants to shrinking wetlands, the threats to coastal ecosystems, the mining crisis, the dying rivers of India and threats due to urbanisation
The Hindu
Posted on 31 Dec, 2012 09:59 AM

The report includes the following articles under separate sections:

Biodiversity
The section on biodiversity includes four articles:
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