Wetlands Law in India: The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, the Ramsar Convention and the Protection of Lakes and Water Bodies

Wetlands are among the most productive and the most threatened ecosystems. They store and purify water, recharge groundwater, absorb floods, support fisheries and agriculture, store carbon and shelter migratory birds. In Indian cities they have been filled for housing, roads and waste dumps, and in the countryside drained for cultivation. Indian law protects them through the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 made under the Environment (Protection) Act, the Ramsar Convention, and the judicial application of the public trust doctrine to lakes, tanks and ponds. This note covers all three.

1. Why Wetlands Need Legal Protection

Wetlands are often treated as 'wasteland' because they are neither dry land nor open water. Their services are rarely priced, and their destruction is rarely noticed until floods, water shortages or collapsing fisheries reveal the loss. Chennai's floods of 2015 and the repeated flooding of Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad have been linked to encroachment of lakes, marshes and drainage channels. Wetlands are also held by the State or by communities as common resources, which makes them vulnerable to conversion by powerful private interests. Wetlands law aims to identify them, notify them, prohibit harmful activities and ensure their wise use.

2. The Legal Framework

Before 2010, wetlands had no dedicated protection and were covered only indirectly by the Water Act, the forest and wildlife laws and the CRZ Notification. The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010, made under the EPA, created a Central Wetlands Regulatory Authority and listed prohibited and regulated activities. They were replaced by the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, notified on 26 September 2017, which decentralised the regime to the States. The Rules are made under Sections 3, 6 and 25 of the EPA. The National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (2015) provides central financial assistance for conservation of lakes and wetlands.

3. The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017

3.1 Meaning of wetland

The first part of the definition follows the Ramsar Convention, which is deliberately broad. The second part introduces exclusions not found in Ramsar: river channels, paddy fields, drinking water reservoirs and structures built for aquaculture, salt pans, recreation and irrigation. These exclusions were criticised, since many village tanks built for irrigation are important wetlands. The Rules also define wetlands complex, wise use (the maintenance of ecological character achieved through ecosystem approaches within the context of sustainable development) and zone of influence.

3.2 Application of the Rules

The Rules apply to: wetlands categorised as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention; and wetlands notified by the Central Government, the State Government or the Union territory Administration. They do not apply to wetlands falling within areas covered under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, the State forest Acts, and the CRZ Notification, 2011 (now 2019), since those areas are protected by their own laws.

3.3 State Wetlands Authority

Every State and Union territory must constitute a State Wetlands Authority, headed by the Minister in charge of the Department of Environment of the State, with the Principal Secretary or Secretary of the department as Member-Secretary, and members from departments such as forests, water resources, fisheries, urban development, rural development, agriculture and tourism, together with experts in wetland ecology, hydrology, fisheries, landscape planning and socio-economics. Its functions are to:

1. prepare a list of all wetlands in the State or Union territory;
2. identify wetlands to be notified, and prepare a brief document for each identifying its ecological character, the wetland boundary and zone of influence, and the activities to be prohibited or regulated;
3. recommend the regulation of activities within notified wetlands and their zone of influence on the principle of wise use;
4. develop a comprehensive list of activities to be regulated and permitted;
5. define strategies for conservation and wise use and undertake measures to enhance awareness;
6. coordinate implementation of integrated management plans; and
7. review, at least annually, the status of notified wetlands and submit reports.

3.4 National Wetlands Committee

The National Wetlands Committee, chaired by the Secretary of the MoEFCC, replaced the Central Wetlands Regulatory Authority of the 2010 Rules. It is an advisory body. It monitors implementation of the Rules, advises the Central Government on policies and action programmes for conservation and wise use of wetlands, recommends the designation of wetlands as Ramsar sites, advises on collaboration with international agencies, and performs other functions assigned by the Central Government.

3.5 Notification of wetlands

On the basis of the State Wetlands Authority's brief document, the State Government notifies the wetland, specifying its boundary, its zone of influence and the activities to be prohibited, regulated and permitted. The Rules set time-limits for listing, identification and notification, most of which were not met. Until a wetland is notified, only the general prohibitions in Rule 4 apply to wetlands to which the Rules apply.

3.6 Prohibited activities in wetlands: Rule 4

The following activities are prohibited within notified wetlands:

1. conversion for non-wetland uses, including encroachment of any kind;
2. setting up of any industry and expansion of existing industries;
3. manufacture or handling or storage or disposal of construction and demolition waste, hazardous substances and other specified wastes;
4. solid waste dumping;
5. discharge of untreated wastes and effluents from industries, cities, towns, villages and other human settlements;
6. any construction of a permanent nature, except for boat jetties, within fifty metres from the mean high flood level observed in the past ten years, calculated from the date of commencement of the Rules; and
7. poaching.

The Central Government may, on the recommendation of the State Wetlands Authority, permit any of these activities in exceptional cases, which critics consider a significant loophole.

3.7 Regulated activities in wetlands

Other activities are regulated according to the principle of wise use, as specified by the State Wetlands Authority for each wetland. These typically include withdrawal of water, dredging, harvesting of resources such as fish and aquatic vegetation, grazing, aquaculture, agriculture in the wetland margins, tourism and recreation, and construction in the zone of influence. Traditional and sustainable uses by local communities are generally permitted.

3.8 Wetland zone of influence

The zone of influence is the area around a wetland, including its catchment, where activities can affect the wetland's ecological character, for example through pollution, siltation or changes in water flow. The State Wetlands Authority delineates it for each wetland, and activities in it may be regulated. The concept recognises that a wetland cannot be protected only within its own boundary.

3.9 Wetland management plans

The State Wetlands Authority coordinates the preparation and implementation of integrated management plans for notified wetlands, addressing hydrology, water quality, biodiversity, livelihoods, pollution control, tourism and monitoring. Management plans for Ramsar sites are also reviewed at the national level. The MoEFCC's Wetlands of India portal and the National Wetland Decadal Change Atlas produced by ISRO support inventory and monitoring.

4. The Ramsar Convention and Indian Law

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat, signed at Ramsar, Iran in 1971, is the oldest of the modern global environmental treaties. Its three pillars are the wise use of all wetlands, the designation of suitable wetlands for the List of Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar sites), and international co-operation. Sites whose ecological character is threatened may be placed on the Montreux Record.

India became a party in 1982; Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) were its first Ramsar sites. The number of Indian Ramsar sites has grown rapidly, from twenty-six in 2019 to over one hundred by 2026, and now includes the Sundarbans, the largest, and sites in almost every State. Tamil Nadu has the largest number. Keoladeo and Loktak Lake (Manipur) have been placed on the Montreux Record.

The Convention is implemented in Indian law through the Wetlands Rules, which apply automatically to all Ramsar sites, through the National Wetlands Committee's role in recommending sites, and through the National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems. Under the EIA Notification, projects near Ramsar sites that are notified protected areas or eco-sensitive areas are subject to the 10-kilometre General Condition.

5. Wetlands and the Public Trust Doctrine

Lakes, tanks, ponds and marshes are classic public trust resources. The State holds them for the benefit of the public and cannot allow them to be converted to private use to the detriment of the public. The courts have applied the doctrine repeatedly.

The Supreme Court has applied the same reasoning to village ponds and tanks (Hinch Lal Tiwari v. Kamala Devi, (2001) 6 SCC 496; Jagpal Singh v. State of Punjab, (2011) 11 SCC 396) and to historic urban tanks (Intellectuals Forum, Tirupathi v. State of A.P., (2006) 3 SCC 549), treating them as community resources held in trust that cannot be allotted for private construction.

6. Threats to Wetlands and the Legal Response

6.1 Wetlands and urban development

Urban expansion is the greatest threat to wetlands. Lakes and marshes in cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata have been filled for housing, roads, bus stands and waste dumps, or reduced by encroachment and sewage. The law responds through the Wetlands Rules, the prohibition of permanent construction within fifty metres of the high flood level, master plans that designate water bodies and their buffers, building bye-laws, and judicial orders. Courts and the NGT have repeatedly directed removal of encroachments, restoration of lake beds and buffers, and a halt to discharge of sewage into lakes.

6.2 Wetland reclamation

Reclamation means converting a wetland into dry land, by drainage or filling, for agriculture, construction or other use. It destroys the wetland's ecological functions permanently. The 2017 Rules prohibit conversion for non-wetland uses in notified wetlands. Some States also have their own statutes: the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 restricts conversion of paddy land and wetlands in Kerala. Where reclamation has occurred unlawfully, courts have ordered restoration under the public trust doctrine and the polluter pays principle.

6.3 Encroachment of wetlands

Encroachment, by private individuals, builders and sometimes government agencies, is widespread. Rule 4 prohibits encroachment of any kind in notified wetlands. Revenue laws, municipal laws and land encroachment statutes of the States provide for eviction. In Jagpal Singh (2011) the Supreme Court directed all States to prepare schemes for eviction of illegal occupants of community lands, including ponds, and held that encroachments could not be regularised except in exceptional cases.

6.4 Protection of lakes and water bodies

Many urban lakes and village tanks are not 'wetlands' under the narrower definition of the 2017 Rules, or have not been notified. Their protection therefore depends on a combination of laws: the Water Act (as 'streams' and receiving waters), municipal and planning law, State lake protection authorities (such as the Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority), the public trust doctrine and Article 21. The NGT has issued extensive directions for the protection of water bodies, including removal of encroachments, prevention of sewage inflow, and restoration of catchments and inflow channels.

7. Critical Appraisal

The 2017 Rules decentralised wetland governance but also weakened it in some respects: the definition excludes many valuable water bodies; the Central regulator was replaced by an advisory committee; protection depends on State notification, which has been slow; and the exception allowing prohibited activities with Central approval creates a loophole. The rapid increase in Ramsar designations is welcome, but designation without effective management plans and enforcement risks becoming symbolic. Effective protection requires completing inventories and notifications, integrating wetlands into urban planning, stopping sewage and solid waste inflows, removing encroachments, and involving local communities in wise use.

8. Related Topics and Provisions