In the 2024 edition of its biennial Living Planet report, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) flagged critical areas of concern related to wetland loss, drought and flooding. For example, the wetlands of Chennai, in the Bay of Bengal, have declined by 85 percent due to rapid urbanization – a fact that is mentioned in the chapter “Tipping Points”. This has negatively impacted key services provided by wetland ecosystems – replenishing groundwater and controlling water flow or drainage – leading to droughts and floods linked to climate change.

When Chennai and its surrounding areas were hit by a severe drought, reservoirs dried up and groundwater levels fell. Urban dwellers faced a severe shortage of water to meet their basic needs such as drinking, cooking and washing. Showing schematically the extent of urbanization in Chennai between 1988 and 2019, the report mentions June 19, 2019 – dubbed Day Zero – when 11.2 million people were left without water in Chennai.

The decline in wetlands has also made the city more vulnerable to flooding. Heavy rainfall in Chennai in 2015 was not unprecedented, but natural drainage channels had been lost due to shrinking wetlands, leading to the flooding of large parts of the city.

The report also notes the government’s efforts to restore wetlands since recognizing the impacts of their shrinkage.

Chennai is not the only place facing wetland loss. The problem is visible across the country, with state governments legislating on the subject but rarely acting on it. For example, including three recently notified sites, there are 85 Ramsar sites in India – sites designated as being of international importance under the 1971 Wetlands Convention signed at Ramsar, Iran, under the auspices of the UNESCO – covering a total area of ​​1.358 million hectares. Five are in Madhya Pradesh, where the state government is yet to effectively implement the Wetlands Rules, 2017, under which a National Wetlands Authority was created. The body has only met three times in the past seven years. All reservoirs larger than 2.25 hectares were required to be notified under the 2017 rules, but this has not been done yet. This would have greatly contributed to the conservation of these reservoirs since the limits would have been identified.

The report mentions the loss of wetlands in Chennai as well as two other tipping points of global concern: first, fires, drought and invasive species in North America, and second, overfishing, pollution and global warming. waters in the Great Barrier Reef.

WWF also commended India for its initiatives in sustainable food production, particularly the Andhra Pradesh community-managed natural farming initiative, through which farmers are building their capacity to address issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution and access to nutritious food. Around 630,000 farmers are connected to this project, which has doubled crop diversification, increased yield by around 11 percent, increased net income by 49 percent and improved dietary diversity. The report also mentions the National Millets Campaign as an initiative to find a local solution to the issue of healthier diets for all.

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