Context:
- The shrinking mudflat ecosystem of Kerala’s Kadalundi keeps shorebirds away.
- The inter-tidal mudflats along India’s west coast are in danger of disappearing, because of both natural and anthropogenic factors
About Mudflat Ecosystem:
- Coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers.
- Most of the sediment in a mudflat resides in the intertidal zone, causing the flat to be submerged and exposed approximately twice daily.
- One of the richest foraging grounds for migrant shorebirds along India’s west coast
Kadalundi-Vallikunnu Community Reserve
- Location – mouth of the River Kadalundi – west coast of Kerala.
- Offers potential foraging ground for several hundreds of wintering and resident water birds
- Provides significant socio-economic and livelihood services for the people around (fishing, oyster farming and sand mining)
About Community Reserves and Conservation reserves
- Protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India.
- Difference
- Conservation Reserves – uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India
- Community Reserves – uninhabited and the land is privately owned.
- Both are used for subsistence by communities
- These protected area categories were first introduced in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 − the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
- These categories were added because of reduced protection in and around existing or proposed protected areas due to private ownership of land, and land use.
- Both are used for subsistence by communities
Source: The Hindu
Previous year question
In which one among the following categories of protected areas in India are local people not allowed to collect and use the biomass? [UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2012 Prelims]
(a) Biosphere Reserves
(b) National Parks
(c) Wetlands declared under Ramsar Convention
(d) Wildlife Sanctuaries
Answer: (b)
