Wetland rules: govt. has to respond fast

The new LDF government, to be sworn in shortly, will have to race against time to formulate and submit its response to the draft wetlands rules issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Issued by MoEFCC on March 31, the draft Wetland Rules, 2016, have invited flak from environmental activists in Kerala who feel that it has diluted regulations and failed to involve stakeholder communities. “It is a watered down version of the earlier rules issued in 2010, which itself was inadequate for the management of wetlands,” says Latha Anantha, Director, River Research Centre, and a campaigner for wetland conservation. “There is no mention of community involvement and the Central government has delinked itself of the responsibility of conservation and management of wetlands and transferred it to the States without even ensuring a compliance mechanism.” Kerala had objected to the earlier version of the wetland rules issued in 2010, demanding the right to formulate its own rules and regulations in accordance with a national policy framework. “The government response to the draft wetland rules will be a litmus test of its commitment to the environment,” says an official.