ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wetlands, a nurturer of biodiversity and one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet is under constant threat from the anthropogenic activities, the presence of invasive species and climate change. Water hyacinth is one of the worst invasive species that affects the water bodies on which it is present and is taking hold of India’s freshwater wetland system, affecting its biodiversity and ecosystem services. It disrupts the flow of water, reduces the dissolved oxygen and deteriorates the water quality. This study focuses on addressing the issue of water hyacinth spread in a Ramsar site (Vembanad Kol wetland) and a non-Ramsar site (Najafgarh Jheel), to understand if the designation of the site as a Ramsar site has any impact on the stakeholder level of interest in the wetland’s conservation. The study focuses on deriving the perceptions of the resident stakeholders in Najafgarh Jheel on the conservation importance, awareness regarding water hyacinth and the livelihood dependence on the waterbody. This study also evaluated the willingness to pay by the household residing in the Najafgarh Jheel region for Jheel’s conservation. With 84 per cent of the respondents being aware about water hyacinth presence in jheel, 47% of respondents are ready for livelihood development by utilizing water hyacinth with proper training. Among the respondents 53% were willing to pay for its conservation. The study also analyzed the trend in the water hyacinth spread in both the wetlands from 2019 to 2023 considering both pre and post monsoon scenarios and found that it was minimal during 2020 and 2021 period, when COVID had struck. This could be related to the controlled anthropogenic activities and pollutant discharge which resulted in controlling of water hyacinth infestation.
Keywords: Water Hyacinth, Stakeholder mapping, Perception analysis, Willingness to Pay, Water hyacinth detection.
