Impact of climate change on wetlands, concerning Son Beel, the largest wetland of North East, India

Abstract

Wetlands are the ecotone with rich ground for the aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna. Wetlands are considered to be a natural ecosystem solution to extreme climate change. Climate resilience reflects as one of the prominent regulating services of wetlands. These are the unique ecosystems providing the unique services to the mankind. Water and its quality are the main factors for regulating the environment of wetlands. Unfortunately, wetlands like any other ecosystems are facing the threat from the increasing population and pollution. Over one such factor responsible for the deterioration is the impact of climate change. The changing climate due to the rise in the greenhouse gases particularly carbon dioxide has also impacted the functioning of the wetlands. Coastal wetlands likewise mangroves are the meeting points of fresh and marine aquatic environment. We know the water bodies around the globe are the worst-hit areas due to climate change and wetlands are no exception to this. On the other hand, the droughts affect the water level of these wetlands leading to their shrinkage and in turn the biodiversity of wetland ecosystem are the worst hit. The wetland ecosystem is significant for various functions such as food storage, water resource, pollution abatement, and the aquatic life, etc. It provides habitat for different species of flora and fauna along with various ecosystem services like environmental protection, pollution mitigation, and protection from cyclones, floods as well as local community livelihood. As the condition of wetland ecosystem of any particular region can give a glimpse of its conservation and management trend. Thus, the significance of the wetlands has been explained through one of the case studies from northeastern part of India. This case study highlights the understanding of climate change aspects related to the lake “Son Beel, wetland, the most significant wetland of Assam in particular and North East India in general with a great potential as Ramsar site designation for its great resource value and by ecosystem services. Son Beel offers a diversity of ecosystem services, which can be directly interlinked with the livelihood. Son Beel wetland is an essential natural infrastructure of disaster risk reduction offering flood mitigation and ensuring water security by recharging under-ground water Communities” access benefits in various ways viz. water, erosion check system, potable water, waste management, climate change policy, and Disaster Risk Reduction. Local inhabitants and communities have deep sacred beliefs in Son Beel because it protects them from the terrible risk of frequent floods and drought every year. People access nonmaterial benefits by spiritual, cognitive developmental, reflectional, recreational, and esthetic values. There is a need to ensure that wetland conservation, judicious use, and restoration are an integral part of sustainable development goals (SDGs) planning and implementation. Integrating wetlands services and benefits in Nationally Determined Contributions for the Paris Agreement on Climate change is critical for achieving SDGs. Rise in population, growing unplanned settlements, low rainfall; unsustainable agricultural practices are the primary cause of this wetland decline. This chapter highlights the significance of wetlands, factors responsible for their degradation with major focus on the climate change as one significant factor, and recommendations.

Full text

Impact of climate change on
wetlands, concerning Son Beel,
the largest wetland of North East,
India
17
Moharana Choudhury
1
, Anu Sharma
2
, Pardeep Singh
3
, Deepak Kumar
4
1
Voice of Environment (VoE), Guwahati, Assam, India;
2
Department of Environmental
Science, Government Degree College Bhaderwah, University of Jammu, Jammu, India;
3
Department of Environmental Studies, PGDAV College University of Delhi, New Delhi,
India;
4
United Nation Developmental Program (UNDP), New Delhi, India
1. Introduction
Water is a vital source of life for the planet Earth, not only to perform the necessary
metabolic cycle but also to run and regulate all the functions of day-to-day life. Stable
economic growth and development for every nation or country are powered by water,
as its availability impacts agriculture, manufacturing, environment, sustainable devel-
opment, etc. The availability of water directly linked to the amount of precipitation,
which is well-taken care by the hydrological cycle. The changing climate followed
by enhanced levels of temperature leads to disturbance in this cycle. The observation
of the world’s wetland day on February 2 every year highlights the significance of wet-
lands as ecosystems. This observance began in 1971 when the Ramsar convention was
convened at Ramsar in Iran. Wetlands play a substantial role in pollution control and
detoxification. Because of their exceptional performance as the filters, the absorption
of pesticides and chemicals, and removing harmful waste from the water, they are
given the Earth’s kidneys’status. Nature plans its natural systems to enhance or
even replace historically gray infrastructure functionalities (WBCSD, 2017). Wetlands
cover around 6% of shares in the global surface they play a unique role in the biogeo-
chemical and water cycle. They are home to a large part of global biodiversityd
tremendous pressure on the ecosystem in the form of land reclamation, extreme exploi-
tation of the resources. Alteration in hydrology, pollution threats are accruing from
many sources on the wetlands on almost every continent.
Further stress to wetlands is expected by climate models, primarily due to changes
in hydrology, rising temperatures, and increasing sea level (Junk et al., 2013).
Twentieth-century climate data show that the United States is in a wetter, warmer
climate pattern. Even other climate forecasts indicate that over the next 100 years,
this phenomenon will continue and potentially worsen. Wetlands are likely to be
affected by the rising sea level trend because of elevated carbon dioxide levels.
Global Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822928-6.00006-X
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