1Energy and Wetlands Research Group, 2Centre for Ecological Sciences, 3Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, India.
*Corresponding author: cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in Citation: Ramachandra T V, Alakananda B and Supriya G, 2015. Efficacy of current restoration approaches - Bangalore wetlands, ENVIS Technical Report 73, CES, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012
STUDY AREA
Wetlands in greater Bangalore are one of the severely polluted expanses in India due to rapid urbanization and urban sprawl. Bangalore once known for its lush greenery and also for its water bodies with rich biodiversity. The city harbors many man-made wetlands to meet the domestic and agricultural needs. Wetlands of Bangalore occupy about 4.8% of the geographical area (741sq km) covering both urban and non-urban areas. They were built for various hydrological purposes, mainly to serve agriculture activities. Studies on wetlands of Bangalore during the past decade show that 35% tanks were lost owing to various anthropogenic pressures. (Ramachandra et al., 2002). There were 262 wetlands (in 1960) within the Green belt area of the city (161 sq.km spatial extent), which has fallen to 81 (Lakshman Rau, et al., 1986). Temporal analysis of wetlands recently indicates a sharp decline of 58% in Greater Bangalore attributing to intense urbanization processes, evident from a 46% increase in built-up area from 1973 to 2007 (Ramachandra and Uttam Kumar, 2008). The undulating terrain in the region facilitated the creation of a large number of tanks in the past, providing for the traditional uses of irrigation, drinking, fishing and washing.
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