Biodiversity for Survival

Originally, the Integrated Management Plan for the East Kolkata Wetlands asked for Rs 110 crore over a five-year time period, to be contributed in a 60:40 ratio by the government of India and the government of West Bengal. Afterwards, it was found out that the entire budget for the conservation of wetlands all over India was Rs 50 crore a year! Eventually, only Rs 66 crore was sanctioned for a five-year time frame for this unique, complex ecosystem that needs very nuanced management

- DHRUBA DAS GUPTA The writer is a wetland researcher with over two decades of association with the East Kolkata Wetlands

On May 22, the world celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity, at a time when the disappearance of species is at the highest rate in human history. According to the World Health Organisation, recent estimates show that species extinctions are currently 10 to 100 times higher than the natural baseline. This is largely due to human activities like deforestation, habitat fragmentation and climate change. Such biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are leading to major health concerns.

The degradation of wetlands that filter freshwater, for instance, has led to a 35 per cent decline in global wetland coverage since 1970, increasing waterborne diseases and reducing water availability for over two billion people. Despite the existing biodiversity frameworks such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (1993), a rigorous Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and the recent Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of 2022, the ground reality is grim. A lack of political will and insufficient policy attention lead to big gaps between policy and implementation.

In the 1950s and 1960s, environmental crises in India, as around the world, spurred a slew of landmark legislations. In the USA, the widespread and successful observation of Earth Day on 22 April 1970 led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 followed in quick succession. More importantly, 1972 became a landmark year when the Stockholm United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held on June 5-16, produced the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment. A major outcome of the Stockholm Conference was the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).