Social and economic considerations in conserving wetlands of indo-gangetic plains: A case study of Kabartal wetland,India

The Kabartal wetland situated in the upper Indo-Gangetic flood plains in northern India is significant because of its hydrological and ecological services, and the socio-economic and cultural values that it represents. Despite being designated as a wildlife sanctuary, this wetland is under threat from anthropogenic pressures. As in the case of most wetlands, the reason is incomplete information on its ecological services and functions, breakdown of traditional management structures and the lack of appropriate and recognized property rights. Our study assesses the economic linkages between the Kabartal wetland and the local people living around it, through socio-economic surveys and Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). The major objective of the study was to determine the importance of this wetland to the local people and to give an indication of the distribution of the benefits among various stakeholders. The people in the region are poor, have low literacy levels and high dependence on Kabartal and more than 50% want that the wetland should be drained and the land used for agriculture. However, they are willing to participate in collaborative management initiatives with the state. The willingness of people to accept compensation, as an alternative to access to Kabartal wetland, regressed on various socio-economic and attitudinal parameters, gave an estimated mean value of US $27,500 per household over a period of 60 years. This value is a pointer of the total value of access to Kabartal wetland to the surrounding villagers and would be useful when decisions to compensate people for lost access to Kabartal are made.     

Emission of respirable dust from stone quarrying,potential health effects,and its management

Mining of minerals exerts adverse pressure on different compartments of environment directly or indirectly. Air is the worst affected environmental matrix, and it can carry the harmful effect of pollutants generated from mining activity even to distant places. The present study was undertaken to estimate the emission of particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀) from different activities undertaken in stone quarrying in Mahendragarh, Haryana. The results obtained from the present study indicated that drilling, blasting, crushing, and transport of mined material are chiefly responsible for the generation of dust. Whereas drilling, blasting, and loading were responsible for emission of higher fraction of PM₁₀, crushing and re-suspension of roadside dust from movement of vehicles resulted in generation of relatively higher fraction of finer dust (PM_2.5). Modelling the transport of dust over the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model revealed that the emitted particle may move up to the distance of about 40 km within 4 h of emission under average meteorological conditions. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis of dust confirmed the presence of calcite and gypsum, thus confirming the source as mining. The study concluded that generation of PM_2.5-sized particles may impose serious respiratory health effects over the workers engaged in mining, crushing, and transportation of sandstone. Apart from it, population residing downwind of the mining area is particularly vulnerable to the pulmonary effects due to inhalation of dust.