Nearly 20% of Haiderpur wetland encroached upon, says report
NEW DELHI/MEERUT: Nearly 20% of the Haiderpur wetland, one of northern India’s best bird habitats, is likely to have been encroached upon for cultivation, an analysis of satellite images by the Wildlife Institute of India has found, even as farmers staged protests against the anti- encroachment drive by the Uttar Pradesh forest department.
Between 2021 and 2023, the Ramsar site of international importance have seen over 1,300 hectares of the total 6,908 hectares being encroached upon by farmers, researchers found through differences in satellite imagery. “We used Copernicus Sentinel satellite imagery between 2021 to 2023 for the change detection within Haiderpur wetland area. It was observed that there has been a significant increase in agriculture in the wetland area,” said SA Hussain, scientist at the institute. “Within the wetland area of approximately 6,908 hectares, around 20%, constituting 1,301 ha, is agricultural fields now. Around 2015-16, agriculture was done on 562 ha, comprising 9.25% of Haiderpur wetlands.”
The Haiderpur wetland has been encroached significantly by farmers, HT reported on February 13. Wheat has been sown on a large area in the swamps along the Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, environmentalists and local birders said.
This has led to removal of typha grass, which provides a habitat for the swamp deer and the elusive Indian Grassbird, which breeds in the wetland. The Union environment ministry directed Uttar Pradesh to immediately stop the further draining of the Haiderpur wetland, HT reported on January 22. This was after tens of thousands of migratory birds left the wetland due to draining of water by state irrigation department.
The Bhartiya Kisan Union, a farmers’ collective, on Friday staged protests to oppose the antiencroachment drive by the state forest department. Farmers from neighbouring Rawli and other villages have sowed wheat on dry areas of the wetland after the irrigation department drained off its water in the second week of January. The state forest department launched an anti- encroachment drive some two weeks ago after HT reported the large-scale encroachment within the wetland. Farmers will not be given time to harvest the illegally sowed crop, according to Kanhaiya Patel, divisional forest officer of Muzaffarnagar district.
The wetland supports more than 15 globally threatened species, such as the critically endangered gharial, hog deer, black-bellied tern, Indian skimmer, and gold mahseer.
“We had asked the Uttar Pradesh forest department for a report on the encroachments, but the report is still awaited,” an environment ministry official said, declining to be named.
“This year, there has been noticeably less avian activity on this stretch. Increased human activity has resulted in much lesser species count of birds this year. Many species would roost on these islands, and they are all gone,” said birder and conservationist Ashish Loya. “Satellite photos show 20% area of the wetland is under agricultural activity, which is 1,301 hectares. So we are waiting for clarification as to how 28.3 hectare have been seen as encroached upon.”