East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW)

East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW)

Subject: Environment

Section: Biodiversity

Context- A recent audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pointed out illegal construction and violations of environmental norms in two Ramsar sites in West Bengal, the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) and the Sunderbans.

Concept-

• The CAG report pointed out that failure to delineate boundaries of the EKW and uncontrolled transfer of land resulted in its change of character and lack of effective action by the EKWMA (East Kolkata Wetland Management Authority).
• In absence of effective measures by EKWMA, waterbodies were dried up and filled illegally.
• Since 2007, EKWMA has identified 357 cases of violation, out of which 101 cases were identified between December 2015 and March 2020, the audit said.

About East Kolkata Wetlands:

• The East Calcutta Wetlands are a complex of natural and human-made wetlands lying east of the city of Calcutta (Kolkata), of West Bengal in India.
• The EKW, a unique peri-urban ecosystem that lies on the eastern fringes of Kolkata, covers an area of about 12,500 hectares.
• It is spread over 37 mouzas of the State’s South and North 24 Parganas districts.
• The wetlands cover 125 square kilometres and include salt marshes, and agricultural fields, sewage farms and settling ponds.
• The wetlands are also used to treat Kolkata’s sewage, and the nutrients contained in the wastewater sustain fish farms and agriculture.
• The wetlands have been historically created by a natural shift of the Bidyadhari, a tributary of the Ganga.
• The east Kolkata wetlands is the biggest ecological asset of the city and a Ramsar Site.
  • A Ramsar Site is a wetland (shallow waters) which is designated to be of international importance under the Convention on Wetlands, an intergovernmental environmental treaty established in 1971 by UNESCO.
  • It came into force in 1975 and takes its name from Ramsar, the Iranian city where the convention was adopted.