Language: English
Wetlands are a highly useful resource in the Indian state of Assam. Wetlands play a vital role as water reservoirs, cultivation of Baro paddy in the periphery area and most of the fish production centre of the valley. More than 30% of fishermen depend on wetiand fishes to meet their daily need. Most of the migratory and residential water birds use this habitat as feeding, breeding and roosting ground. There is an urgent need for management, otherwise some of the wetland will be converted to cultivated land and human habitation centres. Beels, the local term for lake-like wetlands with static water, are also threatened with eutrophication and ecological succession.
Beels qualify as wetlands of international importance for several reasons, as they are a particularly good example of wetlands characteristic of the appropriate region, with outstanding hydrological, biological and ecological roles, substantial socio-economic and cultural values within the framework of sustainable use and habitat conservation, and supporting an appreciable assemblage of rare, vulnerable and endangered species or subspecies of plants or animal, or an appreciable number of individuals of any one or more of the species. It has a special value for its endemic plant or animal species or communities; it regularly supports substantial numbers of individuals from particular groups of waterfowl indicative of wetland values, productivity or diversity. This book outlines strategies for conservation of the area.
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