This conservationist sets legal, social examples to save Delhi's wetlands

Consider the following statistics. India is the world’s largest user of groundwater. Ninety per cent of our population depends on groundwater for drinking, while an estimated 80 per cent of agricultural land is irrigated with groundwater.

Many believe that protecting the country’s plentiful wetlands — areas that remain underwater either permanently or for a few months in a year, could ensure effective recharging of its groundwater reserves and secure our future vis-à-vis water needs.

Yet, in spite of the fact that wetlands across India have been mapped with the help of satellites, located on state-wise atlases and protected under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, they are disappearing by the minute. Which is what makes the efforts of one determined individual, Anand Arya, timely.

This passionate conservationist has singlehandedly filed PILs, cases in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Right to Information queries to protect the National Capital Region’s (NCR) wild spaces. While he hasn’t always succeeded, Arya has created legal and social precedents for others to follow suit.

“It all started when I first visited the Okhla Bird Sanctuary, which used to teem with migratory and endemic bird life,” says Arya. “But over the years, and in spite of our attempts to raise awareness, the Uttar Pradesh government built the Prerna Sthal (a memorial developed by former chief minister Mayawati) there, for which 9,000 trees within the sanctuary were felled.”

Arya filed a case against against the Noida Authority for causing the denudation and environmental distress. “The damage, however, couldn’t be undone,” he rues. Years later, Arya saw the Dadri wetlands meet a similar fate. “We had recorded 207 bird species there,” he says. However, the water source of the wetland was blocked when the adjoining land was used for construction by the Shiv Nadar University and Ansal Hi Tech City. Arya’s complaint compelled the environment ministry to issue a show cause notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and order it to halt construction work in the area. By then, however, the wetland had been partially filled and damaged irreparably, he adds.

In 2014, Arya started documenting Dhanauri, one of the best birding destinations in NCR. “Using all my learnings from the Okhla Bird Park and Dadri, I launched a campaign to save Dhanauri,” he says. Arya garnered support from conservationists by regularly posting photographs of rare and migratory birds that he spotted there. Recently, he has launched a self-funded film on Dhanauri which has won six awards at nature film festivals including the White Unicorn International Film Festival and the Druk International Film Festival.

In September this year, Arya filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking why the government hasn’t notified any new wetland since 1971 when it became a co-signatory to the Ramsar Convention to protect wetlands in the country. Additionally, he has petitioned to make Dhanauri a Ramsar Site and bird sanctuary. “The NGT and the Supreme Court have issued directions to protect Dhanauri and its zone of influence,” he says. “I was also able to get water released into the wetland for the safe roosting of Sarus cranes.”

It does seem like an uphill battle, but Arya is undeterred. “The Dhanauri video is spreading awareness about the importance of the place and other wetlands,” he says. He is continuing to pressure the authorities to follow wetland rules and raise awareness about wetlands.

So far, Arya has used his own resources to file cases and fight legal battles. “It’s all I can do to safeguard our future. For we can survive without roads and buildings, but not without water and a healthy ecosystem,” he says.

Watch the Dhanauri film on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4nNsgd0ouE) and follow Anand Arya’s channel for more on Dhanauri and other wetlands in NCR