The Centre on September 26 notified a new set of rules under the head Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 replacing the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010.
One of the outstanding rules of the notification is that encroachments on wetlands stand banned.
The rules prohibit solid waste dumping, discharge of untreated waste and effluents from industries, cities, towns, villages, and other human settlements into wetlands.
The new notification is expected to appreciably benefit the State government’s Haritha Keralam Mission to conserve and protect wetlands.
There is considerable scope for the new rules to complement the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation Act, 2003, say environmentalists.
The draft rules had largely sought to dilute the Centre’s onus for wetland conservation and pass that responsibility to the State governments.
The environmentalists had also felt that the draft had watered down priority to wetland conservation under the label of balancing development and environmental concerns.
