Wetland Science

A novice student in wetland science may initially find oneself in a state of dilemma about how do wetlands differ from waterbodies. Further, the student might get baffled on coming across multiple definitions of the term “wetland”. The present chapter attempts to elucidate confusion over this fundamental issue at the outset and then leads the student to gain multi-faceted knowledge about wetlands including extent, distribution and types of wetlands in the world and in South Asia (especially, in India). We also discuss meaning and significance of hydric soil, hydrology and hydrophytes, issues of threats impacting wetlands, wetland conservation and conservation policies (especially, Ramsar Convention). The chapter is specifically written for the students of South Asian countries where the subject of wetland science or wetland ecology is not as widely found in formal university curriculum as in the developed countries of Europe and North America.

The wetlands of small island nations in South Asia such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives are compared with that of India with respect to their status, biodiversity, threats and conservation measures. Sri Lanka has diverse coastal habitats, which are known to support fishes (1800 species), marine turtles (5 species), marine mammals (38 species), corals (183 species), mangroves (40 species), birds (100 species), reptiles (33 species) and seagrasses (10 species). The Maldives boasts one of the world’s richest marine biodiversity comprising 250 species of corals, over 1200 of reef fishes, 200 species of sponges, over 1000 species of crustaceans and over 100 species of echinoderms. Marine biodiversity of India comprises 12,913 species, of which more than 5800 species are reported from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Marine biodiversity of Lakshadweep islands is represented by corals (172 species), fishes (396), sponges (95), molluscs (260), echinoderms (84), crustaceans (80), turtles (04), birds (142), marine mammals (6), seagrasses (07) and mangroves (03). The major threats to these wetlands of South Asian countries are climate change, extreme events like tsunami, coastal erosion, population pressure, habitat destruction and over-exploitation. The chapter emphasises the need for adopting frontier tools for biodiversity documentation and innovative strategies for their conservation.

Wetlands support a variety of life forms, which are inextricably linked with the goods and services provided by them. Documentation of the biological resources of wetlands is essential in order to aid in their conservation. Digital repositories ensure wide and easy access to such complex biodiversity information and are gaining significance in conservation planning. However, such digital repositories are few at the regional level, especially in South Asia, an area of high coastal and marine biodiversity. This chapter provides an overview of digital repositories in general and the design and architecture of Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Integration Network (CoMBINe), a national Web portal on coastal biodiversity of India, designed to be scalable vertically to include data with respect to other taxonomic groups and horizontally to cover other countries.

Wetland ecosystems are among the most productive ecosystems that support many kinds of life. They are valuable in terms of hydrology, plant and animal survival, and biodiversity. National Wetland Directory of Sri Lanka describes 62 important wetlands, with their status. The central highland complex of Sri Lanka is a unique ecosystem and the most important catchment area of major rivers. Therefore, it is identified as a super biodiversity hotspot and a world heritage site. The major wetland types in the central highland ecosystem are freshwater marshes, streams, waterfalls, human-made lakes, reservoirs, and springs. In Sri Lanka, most of the threatened species, which are associated with aquatic habitats, are found in the central highlands with very restricted distribution. Habitat deterioration and degradation, encroachments, clearing of vegetation, water pollution, and spread of invasive alien species are the most significant threats to the highland wetlands. Therefore, demarcation of wetlands, protection of buffer zones, increased public awareness, and implementation of good agricultural practices would certainly bring beneficial changes to the ecosystems.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have extensive coastal and marine ecosystems. Seagrass beds and salt marshes are coastal ecosystems restricted to the subtidal and intertidal zone ranging from shallow water in the case of seagrass to the high upland of intertidal zone in case of salt marsh. The chapter provides an overview of the salt marsh and seagrass ecosystems in India and other South Asian countries. Despite their significant ecological importance, seagrass and salt marsh ecosystems are relatively under-explored or unexplored, particularly in the South Asian countries. Fifteen species of seagrass are reported from South Asian region, all of which are found in India. They are distributed along the coastal states/union territories except Maharashtra, Daman and Diu, Puducherry and West Bengal. The salt marsh species diversity in India and the Maldives is not reported. The chapter provides checklist of salt marshes of India, represented by 14 species, which are distributed along Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems and provide many crucial services. Most waterbird species depend on wetlands throughout their life cycle. The Central Asian Flyway covers a large continental area of Eurasia bounded by the Arctic and Indian Oceans, connecting breeding grounds in Siberia and temperate Eurasia with nonbreeding grounds in West and South Asia. Species that breed in wetlands in the Arctic and northern latitudes of Central Asia migrate along different routes, stopping to rest and refuel in wetlands, grasslands and sometimes in deserts on the way to their nonbreeding grounds, where they spend the northern winter. Over 180 species of waterbirds use the Central Asian Flyway, among which are pelicans, ducks, geese, swans, cranes, waders (also called shorebirds), herons, storks and cormorants. Due to past and ongoing destruction, and degradation of coastal and inland wetlands, many of these species are now threatened with extinction. Strict habitat protection, adaptive management of both protected and unprotected areas (including managing water for wildlife) and, when necessary, restorations of wetlands are essential to maintaining functional wetland ecosystems and combating declines of wetland-dependent bird species. Most importantly, monitoring is crucial to guide effective management and conservation.

India’s rich diversity of water-dependent birds includes more than 200 species of which 37 are listed as threatened. Modern bird conservation science depends upon accurate information on the diet, ecology, and foraging behavior of threatened species, and therefore, it is important to take stock of the research on foraging ecology of these birds. The same is reviewed here along with an outline of developments in foraging ecology worldwide. This paper flags out a number of areas for future research such as ingesting contaminants (particularly pesticides and other toxins) along with food, impacts of invasive ichthyofauna, etc., and discusses the conservation aspects of aquatic birds in the context of monsoon-dependent, multiple use wetland landscapes. An effort is made to attempt a pan-Asian perspective and ideas for future research are enumerated.

The geomorphic and geologic evolution of coastal lands of Southwest India is influenced by many local and regional factors, including changes in climate, sea level and local and regional tectonics in the late Quaternary period. The wetlands in Kerala State in Southwestern India, forming an interlacing network, act as an integral part of the socio-environmental frame of the state (Kerala) playing vital roles in the hydrological, biological and biogeochemical features of the environment. However, these systems were mismanaged due to lack of scientific data and proper appreciation of the ecosystem functions. During the recent years, there is a growing concern for conservation and management of the wetlands. This chapter provides some baseline data on the geochemical characteristics of the sediments and the water quality of four important wetlands in the state, namely, Vellayani Lake, Sasthamkotta Lake, Pookot Lake (lacustrine wetlands) and Ashtamudi Lake (estuarine wetland), and provides some insights into the need for their conservation.

The present chapter reviews the current knowledge on trace metal distribution and their enrichment and ecotoxicity potential in sediments in Indian estuarine-mangrove complexes. Available literature suggests that the metals like Cd and Fe show very high contamination, whereas Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn indicate moderate contamination in Indian mangroves [based on the pollution indices contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (I-geo), potential ecological risk index (Eif) and potential toxicity response index (RI)]. The tsunamigenic sediments of Pichavaram mangroves of Southern India indicate very high enrichment of the metals. Low values for Al and As for all indices suggest low degree of risk with respect to these metals across the Indian estuarine mangroves. Cd shows higher enrichment in almost all estuarine-mangrove complexes in India except those at Muthupet and Sundarbans. Of all Indian mangroves, high risk is seen in the case of Pichavaram, Coringa-Gaderu, Manakudy estuary mangrove and Vellar estuary mangrove, while for Sundarbans, Muthupet and Goa, the risk is low. In the light of this, there is a need for effective management strategy for most of the Indian mangrove ecosystems.

Climate change is projected to increase the intensity and frequency of disasters (floods, increased precipitation), the rise in temperature and sea level in Bangladesh, and the consequences of which will be felt across various sectors including wetlands and wetland-dependent ecosystems, biodiversity, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, and livelihoods of people. Hence, this will cause significant economic, social, and environmental challenges/problems for Bangladesh. The major negative impacts of climate change would be damage/destruction of wetland ecosystems and their biodiversity such as, loss or shift of breeding grounds of the Gangetic major carps in the Halda River, Chittagong; loss of Royal Bengal Tiger habitats in the Sundarbans; salinization of rice lands, freshwater aquaculture facilities, and aquifers; water quality problems in wetlands, i.e., algal blooms, low dissolved oxygen, and enhancement of toxins in seafood organisms (fish, prawn); and loss of tourism/recreational business (due to loss of biodiversity). The positive impacts of climate change such as floods would reestablish the connection between rivers and shallow lakes/wetlands, disperse biota/seeds, and enhance spawning and reproduction of native fishes. In order to reduce threats to various sectors, Bangladesh would need to adopt climate resilient development programs/actions including conserving wetlands/mangroves (which are biodiversity “hot spots” and act as major carbon sinks); conserving species with higher genetic diversity; use of 3F models (simultaneous forestry, food, and fish production in coastal areas) to reduce vulnerabilities in coastal communities; floating agriculture (waterlogged/flood-prone areas); and climate-smart aquaculture, rainwater harvesting, and use of renewable energy. Awareness and education programs including inclusion of climate change in curriculum at primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions would be essential. Bangladesh needs to act now, act together, and act differently to enhance development and reduce vulnerability to climate change for a sustainable future.

Despite the substantial contribution of wetland resources to support human wellbeing and the threats of climate change on wetland resources, climate studies have paid less attention to wetlands in South Asia. Hence, this chapter explores the impacts and adaptation to climate change on the wetlands of southwest coastal Bangladesh using the time series (e.g. Mann–Kendall) analysis of climate data and survey data analysis for the adaptations to climate change. We have also reviewed the literature to explore whether the local development projects in wetlands integrates climate change adaptations according to the national adaptation plan. The trends of temperature in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon are increasing over the period 1948–2012. Pre-monsoon rainfall trend is decreasing, in contrast to the increasing rainfall trends in monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. In response to the changes in climate, 78% of respondents have adopted multiple adaptation options, and 94% of respondents have adopted expensive boring methods to support agriculture. The production cost has increased threefold in response to the changes in crop varieties to cope with climate change. The bivariate probit regression (BPR) reveals that loan taking is the determinant of climate change adaptation. Though the review of literature suggests that the impacts of climate change will be severe in the future, adaptation planning is yet not integrated into the wetlands’ development plans. Some of the adaptation options (e.g. access to credit and innovating crop varieties with low production cost) may be included in the global development goals to strengthen climate change adaptation at global and regional scales.

Wetlands are prominent ecosystems lying at the interphase between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems storing nearly 20–30% of the global carbon pool and are considered as the first ecosystem to experience the impact of climate change. Carbon storage in wetlands depends on the balance between carbon input and output influenced by several environmental and micro-meteorological factors such as temperature, moisture, pH, redox conditions, topography, geological position, the hydrological regime and type of vegetation. Globally rice paddies share a significant portion of the wetlands functioning as a major sink or source of carbon micromanaging the emissions of major greenhouse gases. Studies conducted by the authors in selected paddy wetlands of Kerala, India, have established that they are net source of methane during the flooded paddy growth period (92.638 mg m⁻² h⁻¹), whereas they act as sink during the summer fallow period (−2.0176 mg m⁻² h⁻¹). The carbon dioxide fluxes in the paddy act as a source (−0.45 to 2.3 g m⁻² h⁻¹) during the entire study period. Seasonal carbon dioxide was higher in the summer fallow period than in the flooded cultivation period. Fallow period facilitates the aeration of soil, thereby resulting in net loss of soil organic carbon by oxidizing it to carbon dioxide. Highest nitrous oxide emission (0.76 mg m⁻² h⁻¹) was observed during the end of first crop season whereas lowest (−0.017 mg m⁻² h⁻¹) was during summer fallow months of April. During the study, the global warming potential determined for the paddy wetlands of Palakkad was 337.16 g m⁻². Wetlands having considerable role in carbon sequestration levels and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have a potential bearing on the effective management for mitigating climate change.

The degradation of wetland resources including waterbodies, marshy coastal cropland, mangroves and salt marshes due to a variety of human activities within and outside the wetlands is a major environmental concern in India. Despite their importance, these ecosystems are under severe threat of degradation due to both natural and anthropogenic factors primarily due to the lack of awareness of the link between human support systems and natural ecosystems. Unless our natural capital is systematically accounted for, coupled with the knowledge of its total economic value, the probability of unsustainable exploitation leading to loss of human well-being would be significantly high. This necessitates a thorough understanding on the tools and techniques used in economic valuation and the ecosystem goods and services of a wetland ecosystem. The present chapter provides comprehensive information on the typology of various tools used in economic valuation of wetland resources. A synthesis of available information from published literature is also included, which provides a snapshot of monetary values of this natural resource.

The concept of social-ecological system is receiving increasing recognition from the scientific community as a tool for analysing complex phenomena. The wetlands’ social-ecological systems provide valuable economic, social and environmental benefits to society. However, disturbances in wetland system due to human intervention have already led some of the wetlands’ social-ecological system towards the tipping point. Furthermore, in the context of the projected impacts of environmental and climate change, organisms inhabiting and dependent on wetlands, which are at the centre of the social-ecological system, are likely to require greater resilience and innovative coping strategies. The present chapter introduces the concepts of the social-ecological system using real-world case studies from the coastal Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh in order to facilitate understanding of social-ecological system as well as interactions between ecological factors and human wellbeing. The chapter also discusses the critical issues of managing social-ecological system in order to support sustainable ecosystem management.

The Sundarbans is the largest salt-tolerant tropical mangrove forest in the world occupying complex networks of wetlands situated in the Bengal deltaic plain that shares territories with Bangladesh and India. This chapter explores the goods and services, collectively known as ecosystem services that the Sundarbans deliver to the populations living in the impact zone and to the wider landscape of Bangladesh. Similiar to other wetlands, four types of ecosystem services are derived from the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem. These are provisioning services (e.g. fish and shellfish, woods, and honey), cultural services (e.g. mangrove tourism, religious value), regulatory services (e.g. carbon sequestration), and other supporting services (e.g. soil formation). Particularly, provisioning services from the Sundarbans help to ensure employment, income, and food security and constitute a last resort activity when all other livelihood options are lost. However, a number of threats and stressors, both of natural and anthropogenic origin, continue to affect the flow and quality of the ecosystem services due to overuse and degradation. This chapter submits that for sustainable delivery of ecosystem services, urgent research and policy attention is required to manage the wetland in a manner that is socially equitable and ecologically sound.

Wetlands provide various ecosystem goods and services to humans. Rice, the staple food of about 50% of global population and consumed at the rate of one-fifth of the total global calorie count, is grown in wetland systems. The total area of wetlands in Bangladesh is about 7–8 million ha, which constitutes about 50% of the land surface of the country. Wetlands of Bangladesh encompass haors (freshwater marshes of bowl or saucer-shaped shallow depression), baors (oxbow lakes – dead arms of a river), beels (saucer-shaped deeper part of the floodplain landscape), fishponds and dighi (large ponds), flooded rice lands and floodplains, natural lakes, man-made reservoirs (Kaptai Lake), and coastal (Sundarbans) and marine (St. Martin’s Coral Island) areas. Wetlands are rich in flora and fauna (300 plant species, 400 vertebrate species, and 260 freshwater fish species are dependent on wetlands of Bangladesh). Some wetlands of Bangladesh are of national and international significance such as Tanguar haor (Ramsar and an Ecologically Critical Area), Hakaluki haor (Ecologically Critical Area), Sundarbans (Ramsar and UNESCO World Heritage Site and Ecologically Critical Area), and St. Martin’s Coral Island (Ecologically Critical Area). About two-thirds of people in Bangladesh depend on wetlands for a variety of purposes including water (drinking, irrigation), food production (agriculture, aquaculture), fishing, livestock grazing, bird hunting, fire-/fuelwoods, medicinal plants, wild food, honey, waterway transportation, harvesting grasses and seaweeds, and tourism/recreational business. Some poorest of the poor in the vicinity depend totally on the goods and services of the wetland for livelihood. Apart from biodiversity and livelihood support, wetlands have additional significances as a source and sink for greenhouse gases and in mitigation of disasters in Bangladesh. Livelihood diversification, awareness, and education of local communities on preservation and conservation of wetlands would be needed to reduce pressure on wetland resources.

In recent years, understanding the economic consequences resulting from the loss of wetland goods and services because of intensifying threats, both geogenic and anthropogenic, to the coastal wetlands of South Asia has received great attention Greater need for conservation of these wetland ecosystems and preserving their natural resource bases have become apparent. Consequently, over the last two decades, economic valuation of the attributes of wetlands is being widely recognized in South Asia as the popular means of developing strategies for wetland resources management under such threats. The chapter, thus, endeavors to review comprehensively the theoretical and methodological aspects involved in the economic valuation of wetland attributes in general and presents a case study of a coastal wetland from Bangladesh for better understanding the valuation approaches in particular. The chapter also examines the challenges and issues commonly faced during the wetland valuation especially in the South Asian region. Finally, the chapter concludes that a better socially acceptable, economically viable, and environmentally sound policy action can be achieved for wetland conservation and management if all the economic values of the wetland are carefully considered.

Mangrove wetlands in tropical countries provide enormous ecological and economic services to coastal communities. In the semiarid district of Kachchh, northwestern state of Gujarat, India, dependency of coastal communities on mangrove resources for fodder is considerable. Kachchh has the largest (789 km²) mangrove formation in the Indian west coast composed mainly of Avicennia marina though two other species were reported sporadically. Mangrove stand near human settlements in this coastal district is the main source of fodder since fodder from terrestrial sources is sparse due to pronounced aridity of the region. With a livestock population of 1,021,454 during 2011 in coastal blocks that predominantly depends on mangrove biomass for fodder, mangroves face severe threats in the district. This chapter presents the attempts made to create a model for mangrove regeneration with participation of a selected coastal community in order to reduce dependency on natural mangroves. One coastal village with total dependency on mangroves was involved to regenerate 251 ha of mangroves and to manage the created resource to ensure sustainable fodder security. This totally mangrove-dependent village, whose 274 livestock fully depend on the mangroves for fodder, was enabled to raise mangrove plantation and to sustainably manage it. Through village participation, 251 ha of mangroves were regenerated, which besides ensuring their long-term fodder security also generated employment to the villagers to the tune of 17,375 man-days over a 5-year period. The resource management capacity of the target community was simultaneously enhanced through 62 programs on ecological and economic significance of mangroves and training on organizational and technical aspects of mangrove plantation. The gender equated village committee formed was trained in collective decision making on different issues of mangrove regeneration and means of rendering the present dependency sustainable. Dependency on mangrove resources was also reduced by creation of 47 ha grassplots, which served as an alternative to meet fodder requirements of the target community. It is expected that the raised resource will meet the entire mangrove fodder requirement after a period of 7 years when the planted trees reach harvestable size.

The age-old practice of utilizing wastewater into fishpond in the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW), India, is a unique example of resource recovery. The wetlands, providing a range of ecosystem services, form the base of ecological security of the entire region and livelihoods of the dependent communities. Being a dynamic ecosystem, the wetland is subject to influence from various natural as well as human factors. Integrated management of this ecosystem is crucial for maintaining the rich productivity of the wetland ecosystem as well as achieving wise use of resources. The present chapter is an effort to present broadly the ecological-economic linkages of the wetland uses with emphasis on the economics of aquaculture, horticulture, and agriculture under the waste recycling practices.

Wetland ecosystem is a lifeline for people both in a global and regional scale. Different resources are being provided by this ecosystem for the welfare of humankind since ancient times in the form of food, drinking and irrigation water, fuel wood, timber, medicinal herbs, and non-wood forest products. People’s dependency on wetland ecosystems has been increasing in recent years, and South Asia is a good example. However, the booming population and increasing dependency have threatened the wetlands due to unsustainable resource harvesting. Wetlands in Nepal are spatially distributed from lowlands to highlands and are of great value to local people for sustaining their livelihood. However, the degree of their dependency differs with their location. Though the dependency on wetland resources is high in Nepal, people still do not recognize all the ecosystem services of wetlands.

India harbors diverse types of wetlands spread over inland, coastal, marine, and high mountains. The diversity and distribution pattern over the large geographic region of India makes wetlands inventory a challenging and time-consuming activity. Satellite remote sensing, particularly the multispectral optical sensors, has been found useful for this purpose. IRS LISS III sensors with 23.5 m spatial resolution that provide multispectral images in green, red, NIR, and SWIR region were used to develop a methodology for wetland mapping. Various combinations of spectral indices, viz., NDWI, MNDWI, NDVI, and NDPI, were found suitable for wetland mapping. Besides wetland boundary, it was feasible to map three wetland structural components, viz., extent of water, aquatic vegetation, and water turbidity. Among the aquatic vegetation types, emergent and to some extent floating types could be mapped. Water quality was expressed in terms of three qualitative ratings. It was found essential to use two date data pertaining to wet and dry seasons to improve accuracy of classification and derive hydrological behavior of wetlands. The procedure was used to map wetlands of entire India at 1:50,000 scale using LISS III images of 2006–2007. LISS III image enabled mapping of wetlands of >2.25 ha. Smaller than this size were mapped as points. This chapter highlights the procedure used and the advantages and limitations of remote sensing technology for wetland mapping.

Tropical coral reefs represent a major coastal or marine wetland type. This chapter highlights the global distribution of tropical coral reefs, their ecosystem services and major threats. The concept of coral reef habitat mapping has been discussed in detail. Coral reef habitat mapping at different scales have been described with respect to space-based inputs like aerial photographs and satellite imageries available at different resolutions. Major global and regional scale reef mapping projects using aerial photographs and multispectral satellite imageries have been discussed here. The chapter also highlights different habitat mapping methods based on different image processing techniques. Habitat mapping of Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a subset of Indian Ocean reefs with Indian Remote Sensing data and its current constraints have been illustrated as a case. Future directions of this field have also been mentioned in brief.

A number of pollutants are released to the soil-water systems due to various anthropogenic activities. One of the most environmentally benign treatment options of such pollutants is bioremediation. Since natural bioremediation is quite slow, engineered bioremediation techniques like bio-stimulation and bio-augmentation could be used in treatment wetlands (TWs) for hastening the cleaning process. In this chapter, the enhanced bioremediation techniques and the role of plants in the treatment wetlands are discussed. The empirical equations used to evaluate the wetland performance are described next. Subsequently, the governing mass balance equations and the relevant degradation kinetics used for mechanistic modeling of the fate and transport of these contaminants in the rhizosphere zone are discussed. At the end, case studies of batch experiments and pot-scale treatment wetlands are included for practical understanding of the engineered bioremediation process using treatment wetlands.

Owing to an ever-growing human population and the subsequent need for land development in India and other parts of South Asia, wetlands are bound to get adversely impacted. The outcome of adverse impacts may vary from wetland degradation to wetland loss, and mitigation is an effective strategy in minimizing such damages. One of the proven effective strategies of wetland mitigation is wetland creation that restores wetlands to a landscape that suffered wetland loss. Wetland creation efforts typically lead to construction of “replacement wetlands” (also called “mitigation wetlands”) whose total area in an affected landscape has to be similar to or larger than the original wetland area impacted in that landscape. The replacement wetlands should be constructed mainly for ecological well-being of the landscape. Wetland creation to replace lost wetlands in a landscape may require reestablishing original vegetation, hydrology, or other parameters to restore original or closer to original functions of wetlands. For constructing a replacement wetland, an area having diameter of at least 25 m can be selected as wetland construction site in a flat barren land. In India, such land can be a “forest land” under the jurisdiction of a state forest department. Creation of a replacement wetland may be carried out using manual tools or heavy equipment depending on type of site selected, size of the replacement wetland required, and complexity level of the structure of the replacement wetland. Some experience and knowledge regarding engineering surveys and use of survey instruments might be desirable.

In the Gulf of Kachchh, three different plantation techniques, namely, (a) transplantation of nursery-raised saplings, (b) raised bed method, and (c) direct propagule dibbling, are generally followed either singly or in combination to raise mangrove plantation. These different techniques have their own pros and cons though transplantation of nursery-raised saplings is considered as most successful. Many unresolved issues such as high incidence of mortality, poor site selection, poor technical skills, and legal bottlenecks in obtaining appropriate sites cripple mangrove plantation in the GoK. Proactively involving coastal industries in mangrove restoration activities together with participation of other stakeholder coastal communities could be more meaningful and productive. Thus, an integrated sustainable mangrove management plan encompassing different stakeholders is suggested. It is also recommended that instead of plantation as the sole measure of restoration, other restoration techniques such as biophysical amendments could be undertaken.

Coastal wetlands are highly productive ecosystems that provide wide range of ecosystem services. South Asia, with its long coastline, has diverse coastal wetland ecosystems that are subject to serious threats caused by pollution and over-exploitation of resources. The legal environmental instruments of different nations illustrate their intent towards the sustainable environmental governance. South Asian nations have formulated policies and legal framework for efficient management of coastal wetland resources and to meet the standards set by international regulatory instruments. This chapter discusses the national legal instruments and institutional frameworks structured to address the issues faced by coastal wetlands of the five maritime South Asian nations, namely, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It also discusses the international instruments, the guiding principles for development of national instruments, to be enforced to conserve and manage the coastal resources in a sustainable and effective way.

The development and population pressures on the coastal states of South Asia have significant impact on their coastal resources. As a large number of coastal communities are highly dependent on the coastal resources, the decline in resources affects their livelihoods. To manage the coastal resources effectively from further damage, a community-oriented mode of resource management is highly recommended, as it imparts the sense of stewardship and accountability in extraction and use of the resources. The community participation in ecosystem conservation and management has been implemented in South Asia through various enabling policies, regulatory frameworks and community practices. Conservation through involvement of people has not only yielded benefits to coastal environment and resources but also helped people to gain food security and income through tourism. This chapter discusses about various international and national policies and legal frameworks, which provide support for community-based resource management and empower the people of the local community in designing and implementing coastal resource conservation and management plans.

The nature of human dependencies on wetland goods and services is various and complex. Despite being vital societal assets, wetlands continue to degrade. Over the last couple of decades, the concept of participatory management of wetlands, particularly mangroves, in India has gained momentum in scope and application. The basis of community-based resource management is the recognition that humans are part of the ecological system and not separate from it. Through the Mangroves for the Future (MFF) initiative, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) aimed to assess the effectiveness of the participatory management approaches undertaken toward mangrove wetland management, particularly in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve, West Bengal, India.