Book Description

Wetlands are amongst the World’s most productive ecosystems and provide a wide array of benefits. They also provide an ecological niche for the growth of rich flora and fauna, and enable the people to derive economic benefits. However, the growing population pressures, vastly changing social processes, and developmental activities have put a heavy toll on wetlands around the world. Especially, after the Ramsar Convention, need for sustainable management of these valuable ecosystems is strongly felt and many positive initiatives are taken during last decade. The Ministry of Environment and Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India have devoted considerable efforts to wetlands and their conservation since the setting up of a National Committee on Wetlands in 1983. The scheme on conservation and management of wetlands was started in 1986-1987 at national level with the objective of understanding a comprehensive study and maintenance of naturalness of important wetlands like Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary-The 1st Ramsar Site of Gujarat, India. Wetlands are highly dynamic systems, which continuously interact with other systems and anthropogenic activities in their catchments in various ways. All ecosystems interact with adjoining ecosystems in some manner, which are more varied and intense in case of natural wetlands like Nal Sarovar. Hydrology in this case refers to all water related features such as precipitation, inflow and outflow, evaporation and the resultant factors like depth and duration of water, frequency and duration of flooding, and the amplitude of water-level changes. Therefore, even small changes in the hydrological characteristics of the lake bring about significant changes in the community structure and function. It gives us an immense pleasure in presenting this comprehensive book on “Conserving Sanctity of Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary ‘Ramsar Site’ by Community Participatory Approach”. The Nal Sarovar, a shallow, permanent fresh water lake, that sprawl at the junction of mainland of Central Gujarat and Saurashtra, attracts one of the largest concentrations of migratory and resident waterfowl found in India. Although it is yet to be recognized internationally, the lake has been identified as priority site for intensive conservation and management of National Wetlands, Mangroves, and Coral Reefs Committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests & Climate Change, Government of India. This book embodies an in-depth information on Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary in terms of point and non point sources of pollution, nutrient budget and recycling of nutrients in water and bottom sediments, planktons as indicators and markers of pollution, macrophytes as indicators of quality of wetlands, bioaccumulation of heavy metals in aquatic macrophytes, suitability of habitat for waterfowl conservation, impact of various anthropogenic pressures and conservation and site-specific management strategies for sustainable use of biotic resources with suitable recommendations and mitigating measures. We hope this book will be of great help to scientists, teachers, students, wetland conservationists, and managers in this field.