The Lost Natural Wetlands of Punjab (India): An Inventory
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Lost Natural Wetlands of Punjab (India): An Inventory Karanjot Kaur Brar & Vishwa Bandhu Singh Chandel
Received: 24 August 2010 / Accepted: 25 May 2011 / Published online: 25 June 2011 # Indian Society of Remote Sensing 2011
Abstract Wetlands play a vital role in maintaining groundwater levels in an area. This is true for Punjab that was bestowed with several natural wetlands in the flood plains of its rivers. These natural wetlands have never been mapped and their existence has not been acknowledged. The large scale agricultural development in the state has made it India's leading food producing state. This development was done at the cost of certain ecologically sensitive parts, mainly the flood plains thus leading to the demise of wetlands. This paper is an attempt to retrace the lost wetlands that were existed in the flood plains of the three major rivers: Satluj, Beas and Ravi in the present day Punjab at the beginning of 20th century. A majority of these wetlands have not been documented so far and do not even have names. The purpose is to emphasize their elimination in addition to establishing a baseline dataset that can be a tool for wetland planning and management. Keywords Natural wetland . Wetland documentation . Baseline dataset . Change detection K. K. Brar (*) : V. B. S. Chandel Center of Advanced Study in Geography, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction Wetlands form a part of natural water systems and they include a variety of highly productive habitats. They play a crucial role in maintaining groundwater levels in an area. In the context of Punjab their role is critical because of the huge need for irrigation. Ninety-four per cent of Punjab’s cultivated area is irrigated, over 75% of its blocks are over exploited for groundwater, and it has one of tube well for every 3 ha sown; the state’s groundwater resources are being depleted with abandon. Water is critical for its agriculture and other sectors. It is even more crucial in a world of changing climate patterns and rainfall. Climate change in Punjab has manifested itself in a change in the rainfall regime over the last century. Evidence exists for rainfall having increased in the driest rainfall areas of Punjab with areas of high rainfall exhibiting a decline (Brar 2000). The added factor of consistent decline in water table and an emerging water crisis portends a grim picture in context of water availability (Brar 1999). In this situation the relevance of wetlands and their conservation can hardly be overstated. Punjab was endowed with a wealth of natural wetlands that existed in the floodplains of its rivers and may be classified as riverine as per the Cowardin system. Wetlands are known by a variety of local
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J Indian Soc Remote Sens (March 2012) 40(1):97–107
Fig. 1 Delineating the floodplains and locating the natural wetlands as per the Survey of India topographical sheets at the beginning of the 20th century
Table 1 Punjab: floodplain area
Census of India 1988; IRS-P6
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