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Call to restore coastal wetlands

BHUBANESWAR, FEB. 10. The three-day Asian Wetlands Symposium (AWS) that concluded here on Wednesday adopted a ``Chilka statement'' with a call to put an urgent halt to the degradation of wetlands caused by unsustainable developments in Asian countries. The recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean which affected the coastal resource base and livelihood of many people had posed a new challenge for the restoration of coastal wetlands, mangroves, sea grasses, coral reefs and other related ecosystem, the conclave said and formulated an action plan to promote wetland conservation.

It also urged that the knowledge-based strategies and technique be adopted for conservation of wetland eco system and livelihood improvement of the communities.

The cultural value of the wetlands having great relevance to wetland communities needs to be recognised and integrated into wetland management practices, the Chilka declaration said and considered the Chilka Lagoon as an outstanding example of wetland conservation and wise use.

It said innovative approaches should be adopted to promote wetland conservation and management to support sustainable livelihood using the eco system approach and called for documentation and sharing of cultural heritage and values to provide a platform for conservation and management.

Adoption of wetland conservation and management policies, plan and strategies for the wise use of wetlands, restoration of wetlands affected by the tsunami, promotion of bio-diversity conservation and sustainable use of wetland resources incorporating traditional knowledge and wisdom of the local people were some of the action plan mentioned in the Chilka declaration. The significance of wetlands in the tsunami event was also deliberated in detail in a special session where the experts sought more information to guide the future action. There was a need for map based assessment of the pre tsunami situation for the full suite of wetland type and livelihood dependence to enable follow up assessment, the symposium felt and said priorities, both geography and thematic for rapid or comprehensive assessment were required to enable more efficient targetting of resources. --UNI

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Call to restore coastal wetlands

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