The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) in collaboration with the Netherlands-based Wetlands International (WI) will implement a new concept ‘allowable envelope’ for sustainable management of Chilika lake. The concept has been developed by the scientists of the WI.
One of the prime mandates of management of wetlands is the need to maintain the integrity of ecosystems and recognise their special values, functions and services. The awareness and recognition leads to a question of what is allowed in terms of disturbance to these systems, what can be done and what should be avoided. Chilika being a coastal wetland, these issues are more relevant in the face of climate change.
Notably, the CDA has been in the forefront in management of wetlands in Asia by way of adopting the most modern concepts in wetland management. Recently, the CDA adopted the wetland ecosystem health report card for monitoring and reporting the status of the lake ecosystem to the wider audience in collaboration with Maryland University, USA.
The experts and scientists from the WI — including Dr Ward Hagemeijer, Dr Taej Mundkur and Dr Steven de Bie are in Chilika to have three-day intense discussion from April 15 at the Wetlands Research and Training Centre.
Chilika is a Ramsar site. One of the strongest pillars of Ramsar Convention is the wise use of wetland resources for its sustainable management. From WI, the users of Chilika expect information and advice that can help them to define their use of wetlands and the impact the wetlands can sustain without damaging the functioning of the system.
The scientists from the WI during three-day meet would discuss with the experts and scientists of the CDA on the new concept and whether it is a useful concept in the domain of conservation and management of Chilika lake. They would also discuss the ecological sensitivities, the critical drivers, processes, etc and the critical values of these sensitivities besides about threshold-type boundaries.