Dry Gujarat, rich in wetlands

AHMEDABAD: It is official now. Gujarat has one of the largest wetland covers in the country. Of the 10 million hectares of wetland in India, three million hectares are in Gujarat alone.

This fact has been highlighted in a comprehensive study carried out by the Space Application Centre (SAC) of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday released the National Wetland Inventory and Inventory of Snow and Glaciers of Himalaya at SAC in the city.

This is the first of its kind report in the country, drawn up by SAC, which has its headquarters in Ahmedabad. The report says Gujarat has one of largest chunk of wetlands in the country, covering 6.67 lakh hectares.

Ramesh said, "It is a mindset among states to consider wetlands as wasteland. The result is wetlands are written off to builders and industries. One seldom realises their importance in aspects of livelihood and ecology. Isro's comprehensive data would help save thousands of wetlands that can be designated under the National Wetlands Conservation Programme of India."

SAC director Ranganath Ramarao Navalgund said, "The Isro report would prove to be a management tool to save our ecology and biodiversity. The French-Indian Megha-Tropiques satellite developed by SAC is devoted to the study of water cycle's contribution to climate dynamics."

The report on glaciers too has some good news. Himalayan glaciers may be receding but they will not disappear for at least another four centuries. A study by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) shows that the average loss of glacier is 3.75 per cent. This is much slower than originally claimed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which had said the glaciers would disappear by 2035 and was discredited by many experts. Isro's report shows that a bigger concern is that 60 per cent of the glaciers are covered with human debris.

SAC's detailed inventory list of 32,392 glaciers of the Himalayas, which are the world's largest inventory of glaciers, took almost 20 years to compile. The glacier inventory in particular points out that close to 60 per cent of Himalayan glaciers are covered in debris, a consequence of human activities. The report also reveals that 75 per cent of glaciers are retreating, eight per cent glaciers advancing while 17 per cent glaciers are stable.