Today, Dr. Samuel Sukumar lectured on estuaries and wetlands in India. He discussed the ecological, economic, and social importance of estuaries. Wetlands and estuaries offer numerous resources to be utilized and are often abused and left damaged. Because of this, wetlands remain with a broken status in India. Dr. Sukumar concluded his lecture by presenting his own data and conclusions on development’s effects on the wetlands and estuaries of Kaatuppalli Island.
Estuaries are ecosystems in which rivers meet the ocean. Within these ecosystems, great biodiversity thrives because of the wide range of abiotic factors that occur. Dr. Sukumar defined a wetland as any surrounding area of an inland body of water. With the ebbing tide, salinity and temperature change through a wide range during a day. Therefore, the organisms living within the estuaries must be adapted to thrive within the entire range of abiotic factors. Specifically, organisms must be adapted to accept or prevent salinity transfer between their bodies and the outside environment. Not only is biodiversity great in estuaries because of unique evolutionary adaptations, but because of the abiotic factors are temporally hinged, species adapted to one end of the range or the other often are seen in estuaries.
With estuaries abiotic factors providing a host of different aquatic species, fishing communities naturally depend on estuaries for their livelihood. With disruption of the estuary/wetland ecosystem, biodiversity and number of fish populations will decrease. As this occurs, whole fishing communities are left without an economic livelihood and are forced to relocate or turn to crime. Also, the agricultural sector uses wetlands and the naturally saline surrounding waters of estuaries to grow rice paddies, which apparently thrive in slightly saline soils. Thirdly, the industrial sector depends of estuaries as a water source to conduct chemical and mechanical processes. The introduction of heavy metals into water systems can cause long term health effects. Biomagnification is the process whereby toxic, heavy metals are ingested and stored in fat cells within organisms and increase in concentration as they pass through the food chain. Ultimately, humans ingest heavy concentrations of heavy metals from fish and suffer health effects.
Unfortunately, the industrial sector also utilizes the water supply as a landfill. Dr. Sukuma also discussed developmental patterns on the trashed wetlands. Industrial and commercial sectors relocate municipal solid waste to wetlands and water, as well. Within rivers, municipal solid waste causes silting, or gradual decrease in depth of the river. In effect, the trash clogs or fills up the inland water. Then, governments relocate some slums onto the filled up areas and constructs huts. The huts are supported by beams that stick into the ground. This has occurred in several major cities, including Chennai. Another misuse of wetlands and estuaries occurs in tangent with religious ceremonies. People carry a giant statue of Ganesha , painted with toxic dyes, through the streets and submerge him into water. The toxic dyes wash off and can disrupt the ecosystem. In these ways wetlands and estuaries are disrupted despite their ecological, economic, and social importance.
Dr. Sukumar ended his lecture with several slides describing his work on Kattuppali Island and the effects of industry on an otherwise pristine estuary/wetland ecosystem. Kattuppali Island is manmade island just off the coast of Chennai, slightly north of Chennai Marina Beach. The island was formed by the Buckingham canal. The island is 25 square miles large. The island was home to a small community of mostly fishermen, paddy farmers, and woodcutters dependent on the wide variety of wildlife (Brown 2000). Recently, several industries and plants have moved to Kattuppali Island, and the island’s wildlife and water quality has suffered. Subsequently, the population has moved off the island under the persuasion of large stacks of 500 rupee notes and false promises.
Dr. Sukumar measured several biogical, chemical, and physical indicators of water quality. Physical indicators included temperature, turbidity, and rate of flow. Chemical indicators measured different pollutants including nitrates, phosphates, dissolved oxygen content, and dissolved organic carbon. Biological indicators include macro-organism count and population count of various fish, crabs, and other organisms. Rapid urbanization has worsened all indicators on Kattuppuli Island, according to Dr. Sukumar.
Adam Brown’s article “Defining Development: A Case Study on Kattapulli Island” discusses the effects of development on the people living within the island, and it connects the environmental impacts to humanity. Development, through degradation of resources, creates an unfair domination of industry over tribal and poorer villages. Dr. Sukumar’s talk briefly touched on these issues. After the lecture, he explained that his wife had studied some of these villages and worked on tsunami relief programs with them. He explained that between tsunami related problems and increasing ecological response to the growing industry, these people are forced to relocate. This generates and reinforces classist activity. Dr. Sukumar stated that several laws exist to prevent these relationships by stopping development that causes these ecological issues in the first place. However, implementation and enforcement of these laws lags behind and allows these laws to continue. I think as the overall wealth of the country continues to increase, enforcement of laws will increase. Unfortunately through the process of development, degradation of the environment and subsequent relocation of people who can’t afford to withstand the effects of development will continue to occur.
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