CLIMATE CHANGE | Kolkata’s wetlands in danger

Published : Jul 18, 2023 14:38 IST - 3 MINS READ Wetlands just outside Kolkata have for generations provided tonnes of food daily and thousands of jobs as they filter sewage through fish ponds–but rapid urbanisation is threatening the ecosystem. “We are destroying the environment,” said Tapan Kumar Mondal, who has spent his life farming fish in the ingenious system of canals and ponds stretching across about 125 square kilometres.“The population. “Sunlight and the sewage create a massive plankton boom,” said K. Balamurugan, chief environment officer for West Bengal, explaining that the microorganisms in the shallow fish ponds feed rapidly growing carp and tilapia. For Kolkata, on the vast delta where the Ganga meets the Indian Ocean, the wetlands also provide flood defences for a city facing rising sea levels due to climate change.“This city never faced any flooding issue,” Balamurugan added. “These wetlands are acting as a natural sponge, taking the excess rainwater.” Das Gupta said the biodiversity hotspot also “plays a very important role in stabilising the climate”, calling the wetlands “the lifeline of Kolkata”.“The wetlands have to stay, because of the cooling that they achieve by their very presence,” she said.