WETLANDS & ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: A CASE STUDY

Wetlands are ecosystems or habitats for specific plants and animals that are saturated with water. The presence or absence of water determines their formation, processes and characteristics. Wetlands are of great importance to man and nature as it purifies water, reduces flood, stores water, prevents soil erosion, supports varied biodiversities etc. Starting about thousands of years in urban areas of the world and typically a few hundred years ago in most other coastal areas, humanity has profoundly impacted, degraded or destroyed many coastal wetlands worldwide by direct physical degradation and pollution. Ironically, reduced coastal wetland increases threat to human safety at the same time, shoreline development exposes populations to coastal hazards such as tsunamis, erosion, flooding, storm waves and surges. This paper tries to evaluate the importance of Wetlands and the present scenario of wetlands and the steps taken by the world community to protect and preserve it. This paper illustrates the present scenario of wetlands by The Case study of Pallikaranai Wetlands of Chennai which presents the best example of the dismal state of wetlands in-spite of numerous efforts taken by academicians, environmentalists and the local community to protect it.