The ‘kidneys of Kolkata’: Indian wetlands beneath risk

Wetlands simply exterior India’s Kolkata have for generations offered tons of meals day by day and hundreds of jobs as they filter sewage via fish ponds—however speedy urbanization is threatening the ecosystem.

Conservationists warn that air pollution and strong-arm land grabs are placing a lifeline for the megacity’s 14 million residents in danger.

“We’re destroying the atmosphere,” stated Tapan Kumar Mondal, who has spent his life farming fish within the ingenious system of canals and ponds stretching throughout about 125 sq. kilometers (48 sq. miles).

“The inhabitants… has elevated, there’s a stress on nature, they’re ruining it,” 71-year-old Mondal added.

Listed as a wetland of world significance beneath the United Nations Ramsar conference, the waters provide pure local weather management by cooling sweltering temperatures—and act as worthwhile flood defenses for low-lying Kolkata.

However Dhruba Das Gupta, from the environmental group SCOPE, stated that short-sighted constructing growth was encroaching on the wetlands.

“The wetlands are shrinking,” stated the researcher, who’s making an attempt to finance a examine of what’s left of the waters.

‘Ecologically-subsidized metropolis’

On daily basis, 910 million liters of nutrient-rich sewage movement into the wetland, feeding a community of about 250 hyacinth-covered ponds.

“Daylight and the sewage create an enormous plankton growth,” stated Ok. Balamurugan, chief atmosphere officer for West Bengal state, explaining that the microorganisms within the shallow fish ponds feed quickly rising carp and tilapia.

As soon as the fish have had their fill, the water runoff irrigates surrounding rice paddies and the remaining natural waste fertilizes vegetable fields.

“The sewage of the town is being naturally handled by the wetlands,” Balamurugan stated, giving them the nickname the “kidneys of Kolkata”.

The community-developed system was created by “the world’s foremost connoisseurs of wastewater sensible use and conservation”, in line with its UN Ramsar itemizing, which additionally warns it’s beneath “intense encroachment stress of city enlargement”.

The late ecologist Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, who performed a key function within the 2002 Ramsar submission, known as Kolkata an “ecologically-subsidized metropolis”.

The wetlands system processes about 60 p.c of Kolkata’s sewage freed from cost, saving the town over $64 million a yr, in line with a 2017 College of Calcutta examine.

Farms within the wetlands present about 150 tons of greens day by day, 10,500 tons of fish yearly and make use of tens of hundreds of individuals, the Ramsar itemizing estimates.

For Kolkata, on the huge delta the place the Ganges River meets the Indian Ocean, the wetlands additionally present flood defenses for a metropolis dealing with rising sea ranges attributable to local weather change.

“This metropolis by no means confronted any flooding concern,” Balamurugan added. “These wetlands are appearing as a pure sponge, taking the surplus rainwater.”

Das Gupta stated the biodiversity hotspot additionally “performs a vital function in stabilizing the local weather”, calling the wetlands “the lifeline of Kolkata”.

“The wetlands have to remain, due to the cooling that they obtain by their very presence,” she stated.

‘Land is being snatched’

However the Ramsar itemizing notes that industrial effluent is tainting pure methods, threatening meals manufacturing.

Fish farmer Sujit Mondal, 41, stated that in comparison with final yr “manufacturing has diminished” due to “murky water”.

About 95 p.c of the wetlands are in non-public palms.

As land costs surge, atmosphere officers say they’ve pleaded with folks to not fill within the fish ponds to create new constructing house.

“We requested them to not convert the wetlands, to not commerce these wetlands to buildings, to not get them stuffed,” Balamurugan stated.

However residents say village councils are being bribed by land-hungry builders.

“They’re usually accused by residents of giving casual permission in return for cash to actual property builders to construct, whereas they appear the opposite manner,” stated Das Gupta.

“This results in large lack of productive house, and destroys the ecosystem providers supplied by these wetlands,” she added.

“The land is being snatched from folks,” stated Sujit Mondal, the fish farmer.

Gangs even internet the ponds at night time to steal the fish, leaving farmers with little possibility however to shut and promote.

“They pressurize fishermen to surrender their livelihoods,” stated Das Gupta. “Then they take management of the land.”

© 2023 AFP