Conserving the wetland resources
Hakaluki Haor.
Wetlands are invaluable components of the environment, ecology, resource potential and biodiversity in Bangladesh. They are integral part of the local ecosystem based cultures. These consist of wide variety of types ranging from lakes, rivers, coastal forests to deepwater paddy fields and ponds. All these wetlands form a unique mosaic of habitats with extremely rich diversity of flora and fauna, much of which as yet biologically undiscovered. The wetlands also support the livelihood of millions of people engaged in such diverse activities as fishing to collecting honey, thatching materials and fuel wood. ResourcesThe abundance of water and wetlands has always been the geographical and historical destiny of Bangladesh. More than two thirds of Bangladesh may be classified as wetland according to the definition enunciated in the 'Ramsar' convention (The 'Ramsar' convention was named after the town of Ramsar, Iran, where wetlands were defined as “areas of marsh, fen, peat land or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salty, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters”.) About half of the area of the country can be considered as wetlands. About 6.7 percent of Bangladesh is always under water, 21 percent is deeply flooded (more that 90 cm) and 35 percent experiences shallow inundation. The average discharge of water in Bangladesh delta in the flooding season is more than five million cusec. Wetlands in Bangladesh encompass a wide verity of dynamic ecosystems ranging from mangrove forest (about 577, 100 ha), natural lakes, man-made reservoir (Kaptai lake), freshwater marshes (about 400 haors), oxbow lakes (about 54488 ha, locally known as baors), freshwater depressions (about 1,000 beels), fish ponds and tanks (about 147, 000 ha), estuaries and seasonal inundated extensive floodplains (Akonda, 1989; cited in Akbar Ali Khan 1993 and DoF 1985). Ecosystem services
The wetlands in Bangladesh have great ecological, economic, commercial and socio-economic importance. They contain very rich components of biodiversity of local, national and regional significance. Among the estimated 5,000 species of flowering plants and 1,500 of vertebrates in the country, up to 300 plant species and some 400 vertebrate species are judged to be dependent on wetlands for all or part of their life span. Wetlands also provide habitat for a variety of resident and migratory waterfowls, a significant number of endangered species of international interest, and a large number of commercially important ones. The inland capture fishery is based on the vast freshwater resources with some 260 species of fin fishes and 25 shell fishes. There is substantial basis for the view that the country's natural resources, especially the Sundarbans, could support development of richer tourism. Wetlands also support a significant range of other activities such as extraction of reed, harvesting of edible aquatic vegetation and their products, medicinal herbs, shells etc. Bangladesh wetlands also play an important role in flood control and storm surge protection. Wetlands are unique for their rich biodiversity and cultural heritage. It is the combination of all these functions, yields and values that make wetlands so important to the society. Maintaining livelihood system
Wetlands are one of the most productive and resourceful areas, which provide food, non-food aquatic resources and retain the ecological balance for the local residents as well as for the nation. Wetlands of Bangladesh provide one of the major scopes for livelihoods particularly for cultivating food crops, vegetables, fishing, and pasture for cattle. Cultivation of rice is a major livelihood activity in and around the wetlands of Ganges- Brahmaputra floodplain and haor basin. Structure of the rural livelihood system depends on the inland open water fisheries, status of protein intake and health problem of rural population, and economic importance (trading, marketing and business) of the floodplain fish. Fishing is the second largest livelihood activities in the country. The majority of rural population depends on fishing. The available information indicate that this sector employs about 2 million people who remain fully engaged in fishing, handling, packaging, transporting, distribution and marketing of fish. An estimate shows that about 10 million people are engaged as part-time fishermen to supplement their income or to live on fishing in some part of the year. About ten percent of the population depends on fisheries for their livelihoods in Bangladesh. Degradation of wetlands
Since independence there has been an accelerated expansion of physical infrastructure in the floodplains and haor areas. In recent years, decentralization of administration at the Upazila (sub-district) level also led to a rapid expansion of roads and feeder roads even in the rural areas of the haor basins. These infrastructures were often done without proper planning or without paying due regard to natural water flows. These poorly planed roads and drainage structures created water logging and had serious impact on the water regimes in the flood plains. Degradation of the wetlands in Bangladesh has created the following impacts: 1) Serious reduction of fish habitat, fish population and diversity; 2) Extinction and reduction of wildlife including birds and reptiles; 3) Extinction of many indigenous varieties of rice with the propagation of high yielding varieties; 4)Loss of many indigenous aquatic plants, weeds and shrubs, 5)Loss of natural soil nutrients; Deterioration of living conditions; 6) Loss of natural water reservoirs and degeneration of wetland-based ecosystems, occupations, socio-economic institutions and cultures. Pollution status
The pollution problems mostly originate from 'abuse, misuse or cocktail' use of pesticides and overdose and untimely application of fertilizers and from domestic wastes as well. All the rivers flowing through Bangladesh originate outside the country and these carry heavy loads of silt, sediments and other debris, including domestic, agrochemical and industrial wastes, from far-away places. Together with these, local wastes are added, thus making the water saturated and at times oversaturated with organic and inorganic pollutants. The wetlands of the whole country are the dumping grounds for these sediments and pollutants for flushing out of materials to the sea is quite slow. The result is serious deterioration of the aquatic resources. Most of the industries and factories are situated on the banks of the rivers or are very close to a river system and the effluents and wastes are mostly thrown directly in the river water without any treatment to make the effluent 'safe' from the biological standpoint. As a result, the depletion of the biotic components near the sources is observed. As the rivers are connected with each other and different mills and factories are situated on their banks, the recovery of the water from the effects of the effluent is very low and during the non-monsoon period, conditions become worse. Concluding remarks
In the recent history of landscape development, wetlands have been among the most affected ecosystems of Bangladesh. But wetlands play a key role in the country's lifecycle and are highly productive and diverse ecosystems with their irreplaceable role in a sustainable landscape. The continual loss of wetlands threatens the very ability of the land to sustain life resulting in the reduction of wildlife habitat and wetland-based socio-economic activities. Hence, special care must be taken to maintain wetlands with their pristine environment. Wetlands management needs to be incorporated into a system of integrated land and water use and indeed, into the socioeconomic system of the country. Appropriate land and water use policies/strategies related to wetlands need to be adopted and implemented. Land and water managers must pay attention to issues related to wetlands ecosystems. Moreover, public awareness has to be developed for wetland conservation.
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