Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav that the conservation of wetlands cannot be the government’s responsibility alone.
Speaking at a regional consultative workshop for the restoration and integrated management of wetlands for the North-Eastern states in Imphal, he said wetlands are essentially societal assets, with governments acting as a trustee of these assets on behalf of the citizens of India. Unless the entire society participates and partners in wetlands conservation, tangible change cannot be achieved ,he added.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change organised a the workshop. The workshop is fourth in the series of regional workshops (previously held in Srinagar, Goa, and Kochi) under Mission Sahbhagita. The Sahbhagita mission aims to conserve and effectively manage a network of 75 wetlands of national and international importance in the country with an all-inclusive ‘whole of society’ and ‘whole of government’ approach.
Yadav interacted with the site managers and the State Wetland Authorities (SWAs) of the North-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, to understand the priorities and challenges of wetlands conservation at their respective states/sites.
The Union Minister emphasised that wise use of wetlands aligned with its natural ecology is critical for survival of these ecosystems. Highlighting the importance of multi-stakeholder approach Yadav said “different agencies should come together and collaborate for wetlands conservation”. Shri Yadav stated, “wetlands often get neglected as public goods. The entire society needs to come together to protect these ecosystems”.
He also emphasised that change in personal behaviours is the most important aspect if we have to conserve the wetlands. Mission LiFE is critical for nudging people for conserving wetlands.
Chief Minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, expressed his pleasure that all north-eastern states were represented at the workshop, and made tangible discussions for conservation of wetlands heritage. He underlined the need for proactive actions for removing Loktak from Montreux Record.
