Less wetlands, worse flooding in India

This video says about itself:

Wildlife and adventure sports in India! Watch Sarus Cranes at sunrise in an Uttar Pradesh wetland (soon to be ruined by an airport!), elephants in a chaur grassland at Corbett National Park, Gir lions or Asiatic lions in Gujarat, White-eyed Buzzard Eagle with nictitating membrane over eye, hard ground barasingha sparring in Kanha National Park during the mating season, Short-toed eagle doing the samba while stationary mid-air, Python molurus at Bharatpur or Keoladeo ghana Sanctuary in Rajasthan, helicopter skiing in Himachal Pradesh, jumaring over a crevasse in Himachal, Axis deer or Chital in Corbett or the erstwhile Hailey National Park, leopard or panther, para sailing at Billing and Solang Nala / nullah, white water river rafting on the ganga / Ganges, tip top ice climbing on an ice wall in the Himalaya with ice axes and crampons, elephants fighting in a grassland during the mating season, fox crossing the Zanskar river in Jammu and Kashmir state of India, ice bridge in Padum / Padam, Zanskar, Paradise Flycatcher feeding young chicks at nest on a kathal or jackfruit tree, Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) in Arunachal Pradesh’s thick rain forest, Jungle Cat at Ramganga river, Uttarakhand, water skiing on Dal Lake in Kashmir, India, with house boats in the background, Rhino chasing other rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis, in Kaziranga National Parj, Assam, tiger cub coming to mother at Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, peacock displaying, Indian peafowl, Pavo cristatus, Himalayan Pied Woodpecker expelling wood chips from its recently excavated nesthole, Black shouldered / winged Kite at Panna National Park, climbers with Bhagirathi peaks in background on the Gangotri glacier national park, Uttarakhand, India.

Less wetlands, worse hurricane and flooding disasters in New Orleans, USA.

And from Wildlife Extra:

Bombay Natural History Society blames poor land management for extent of Kashmir floods

Following the recent flooding disaster in the Kashmir region of India, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) have gone on the record saying that the loss of wetlands in the Kashmir valley has directly impacted the catastrophe, making conditions worse than they otherwise would be.

They state that in the past 30 years, nearly 50 per cent of the wetlands in the Kashmir Valley have been severely damaged, and highlight the reduced areas of Dal Lake and Wular Lake as having a detrimental effect on important drainage for the valley. Dal Lake currently covers half the area of its earlier spread, while Wular Lake and marshes now cover just 2,400, after previously spanning a total of 20,200 hectares. They cite that the encroachment upon the shallow portions of the wetland by the Forest Department for plantation of willow trees has significantly reduced the size of Wular Lake over the years.

In addition, the organisation blames commercial activities on the severe loss of wetland habitat. These wetlands, they argue, acted as a sponge when they were well preserved, but have since been neglected in recent years. As such, BNHS stress the need for a Wetland Conservation Act.

Commenting on the recent flooding, Dr Asad Rahmani, Director at BNHS, says: “The disastrous damage caused to life and property could have been minimised if the large number of wetlands that once existed in the Valley, had been preserved. Wetlands act as a sponge that retains excess water. Wular Lake is a classical example”.