The Bihar government will pitch for declaration of four important wetlands — including Udaipur lake in West Champaran, Vikramshila Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur, Gogabeel lake in Katihar and Gokul reservoir in Buxar — as coveted Ramsar sites.A decision to this effect was taken in the third meeting of Bihar State Wetland Authority (BSWA) on Wednesday under the chairmanship of environment, forest and climate change department minister Tej Pratap Yadav.
The BSWA also gave its nod for initiating steps for taking necessary action for notification of 24 wetlands, according to the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.
In another important decision, approval was given for budgetary provisions for conservation and development of wetlands under the fourth agriculture road map of the state government. Works will be done in coordination with the agriculture department for ensuring climate and biodiversity conservation, an official said.
Approval was also given for preparation of documents, health cards and ‘wetland friends’ (local volunteers) of 45 wetlands larger than 100 hectares in the state in the next phase. Besides, approval was given to the integrated management plan for Gokul reservoir wetland under the Bhojpur forest division.
“This is for the first time that we will be spending on wetland management from the state plan. It is now part of Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission and also in the agriculture road map. We hope to prepare an integrated wetland management plan of a few important wetlands,” secretary (environment, forest and climate change) Bandana Preyashi told TOI.
Other senior officials present in the meeting included principal secretary (animal and fisheries resources) N Vijaya Lakshmi, principal chief conservator of forest (climate change and wetland) N Jawahar Babu and chief wildlife warden Prabhat Kumar Gupta.
According to sources, the total number of wetlands in the state is around 4,410, including around 3,000 natural and 1,410 man-made water bodies. Environmentalists claim that apart from biodiversity conservation, wetlands are also a good way to sequester carbon — a process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
There are around 2,400 wetlands designated as Ramsar sites across the world, including Kabar lake in Begusarai, which was included in the list as the 49th Ramsar site in India in October, 2020. These sites are considered wetlands of international importance as per the Ramsar convention, an intergovernmental treaty of UNESCO, which was initiated in the year 1971.