The hidden wealth in degraded natural places
It was going to be a Sunday picnic with the parents. A picnic basket, stuffed with fried pooris and aloo, was packed. Sunscreen was handed around, and heads were covered to protect us from the heat. Our parents brought us to a place called Surajkund (‘kund’ signifies a waterbody or tank) in Faridabad in their little Maruti 800 car.
The day was hot and the ground was rocky, but the lake stretched like a wild, shining thing. The water looked like spilled mercury in the heat, with its shores assuming a fantastical, wilful shape. After lunch was had and photos were taken, our parents told us another lake, Damdama, was close by and that would be the next picnic.
That picnic never happened. Damdama remained just a name for a lake. And by the time I grew up, Damdama had veritably dried up. Perhaps the kids of today don’t hear of Damdama as a lake that needs to be visited. Near urban centres, lakes and waterbodies are seen as a dispensable feature.
The catchment area around the wetland is built up, water sources are cut off, and sewage is dumped into the water. Waterbodies are referred to as dustbins till everyone believes they are only good for litter. Or till someone says the water should be drained so construction can commence. In Chennai, Pallikaranai is feeling all the pressures of a growing city—garbage and construction.
Yet, there is some happy news for Damdama. Following a survey, a new species has been found there, the elongated tortoise. This sighting could be a first for the Aravallis hill range. Tortoises don’t like water, but seeing the headline reminded me of the Damdama lake, a place once known for its natural vistas. If a wetland is properly conserved, the area around it—the zone of influence—is also managed as a natural site.
This leads to the protection of micro-habitats that can have nests and dens of various wild animals and birds, and create refuges for native plants. Even more advanced techniques would involve doing hydro-geological mapping to understand ground water tables and geologies.
The single tortoise at Damdama lake signifies also how natural places, even if degraded, can carry a wealth of potential for native species—and that the exploration of these places can continue to surprise us. Some areas, like Vedanthangal in Tamil Nadu, carry histories of people and wild animals and their coexistence. Birds create their own destinies in Vedanthangal by rearing generations of chicks, and farmers allow the birds their place. In essence, an area which is managed as natural creates a trajectory that is completely unique to it. No two natural areas will have the same story.
As we lose wetlands and their surrounding natural areas, we also lose the memories of these areas. As I watched migratory sandpiper birds from Central Asia in a rice field, a temporary wetland in Haryana, on Sunday, I wondered how many generations of birds had come to this nondescript place. A slip of water, whether known or unknown, can be precious for the particular local trajectory of a place. And nearby, an ancient unknown tortoise, or a reptile, or a mammal, waits to be discovered.
Neha Sinha
Conservation biologist and author
Views expressed are personal
Posts on X: @nehaa_sinha