CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh Wetland Authority under the chairmanship of Punjab governor-cum-UT administrator V P Singh Badnore has given the go-ahead to World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) to prepare the integrated management plan for the Sukhna wetland.
“The chairperson and members of the UT of Chandigarh Wetlands Authority unanimously approved the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), New Delhi, to prepare the integrated management plan of the Sukhna Wetland, as per agreement on March 25, 2021,” according to minutes of the recent meeting of the authority.
The forest and wildlife department had signed the agreement with the WWF for preparation of management plan of Sukhna wetland within stipulated time period of up to March 2022. The department has already sent the basic information required by the WWF and is in the process of preparation of the plan.
The WWF in December last year submitted a roadmap for the Sukhna Lake management plan. A senior UT official said that WWF has agreed to prepare the Sukhna management plan. The WWF would not charge anything to prepare the plan as they are the knowledge partners with the UT for declaring Sukhna as wetland, he added.
Admn had sought WWF help in 2019
In November 2019 the administration had sought help of the NGO. The pandemic and the lockdowns had delayed the plan. Under the proposal, the WWF would provide overall technical support, including review and analysis of all existing knowledge, information, and data. Besides, the WWF team would also conduct field surveys, including avian surveys, Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Services (RAWES) assessments and socio-economic surveys.
The roadmap also includes designing stakeholder engagements and conducting stakeholder consultations; capacity building programme for key stakeholders on wetland conservation; and drafting of the different chapters of Integrated management plan (IMP) and finalisation of the plan.
The plan would help the UT to regulate and control activities, like boating, including number and types of boats and their timings; trekking in Sukhna sanctuary; facilities for tourists in and around the lake; desilting; water availability in case of poor rainfall; management of migratory birds; fishing; and maintenance of lake.
