Asian countries team up to
save desert wetland
April, 2003
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1076/3_45/99907812/p1/article.jhtml
From November to April, the Rann of Kutch, an area
that stretches nearly two million hectares across northwestern
India and southern Pakistan, is a vast salt flat--bleak, hot,
and dusty. But for the other half of the year, it is a different
place altogether. The salt flats become flooded with runoff
from monsoon rains and seawater driven by high winds and tides
from the Arabian Sea. This deluge transforms the flats into
marshes that teem with more than 200 species of birds, including
one of the world's largest breeding colonies of greater and
lesser flamingos. During the wet season, many large mammals
also inhabit the few areas of higher ground, which provide a
place for the region's only large trees to grow. The Rann of
Kutch has been shaped by a variety of geological processes.
Once part of the Arabian Sea, geological uplift closed off the
area and created a large freshwater lake that was still navigable
more than two millennia ago. Over the centuries, silting created
a mud flat that is now only flooded dur ing the brief wet season.
In 1819, a devastating earthquake created a 90-kilometer-long
ridge and altered the course of the Sindhu River, leaving the
Rann of Kutch without a freshwater supply. Divided by the India-Pakistan
border, the Rann of Kutch has not always been a peaceful area.
But the wetlands hold the prospect for future cooperation. In
2002, India and Pakistan committed to designate more than 1.6
million hectares of the Rann of Kutch as "Ramsar sites"--wetlands
of international importance--in accordance with the Ramsar Convention
on Wetlands. Signed in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, the convention
is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for
national action and international cooperation for the conservation
and wise use of wetlands and their resources. These commitments
raise hope that the two neighbors will work together to protect
and manage one of the most biologically important wetlands in
Asia. Although part of the area on India's side is already protected,
even within these areas, the fragile ecosystem is under threat
from cattle grazing, auto traffic, and tree harvesting for making
charcoal. There are also proposals to expand commercial salt
extraction, which could adversely affect several animal populations.
WWF International feature, accessed via www.panda.org,
6 February. (E.F.)
COPYRIGHT 2003 Heldref Publications COPYRIGHT 2003
Gale Group
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