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Original Article
Protecting India’s Blue and Green Treasures: Wetland Conservation Imperative Through Statistical Understanding
Sumit Gandhi1
1 Professor and Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Jaypee University of Engineering and Technology, Guna, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Published Online: March-April 2026
Pages: 27-37
Cite this article
↗ https://www.doi.org/10.59256/ijrtmr.20260602005
References
1. Andrews C, Russo A (2022) Exploring the Driving Factors that Influence the Design, Function, and Use of Urban Wetlands in the United
Kingdom. Wetlands 42:93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-022-01610-1.
2. Bassi N, Kumar MD, Sharma A, Pardha-Saradhi P (2014) Status of wetlands in India: A review of extent, ecosystem benefits, threats
and management strategies. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 2:1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2014.07.001.
3. Burian A, Kremen C, Wu JST, Beckmann M, Bulling M, Garibaldi LA, Krisztin T, Mehrabi Z, Ramankutty N, Seppelt R (2024)
Biodiversity–production feedback effects lead to intensification traps in agricultural landscapes. Nat Ecol Evol 8:752–760.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02349-0.
4. Baltzer PJ, Moore J, Salice CJ, Beauchamp VB (2024) The Effects of Legacy Sediment Removal and Floodplain Reconnection on
Riparian Plant Communities. Wetlands 44:15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01768-2.
5. Biswas Roy M, Nag S, Halder S, Roy PK (2022) Assessment of wetland potential and bibliometric review: A critical analysis of the
Ramsar sites of India. Bull Natl Res Cent 46:59. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42269-022-00740-0
6. Costanza R, De Groot R, Braat L, Kubiszewski I, Fioramonti L, Sutton P, Farber S, Grasso M (2017) Twenty years of ecosystem services:
How far have we come and how far do we still need to go? Eco-system Services 28:1–16.
7. Cozim-Melges F, Ripoll-Bosch R, Veen GF, Oggiano P, Bianchi FJJA, Putten WHV, Zanten HHEV (2024) Farming practices to enhance
biodiversity across biomes: a systematic review. NPJ biodivers 3:1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-023-00034-2.
8. Courtney S, Montalto F, Watson EB (2024) Climate and Vegetation Change in a Coastal Marsh: Two Snapshots of Groundwater
Dynamics and Tidal Flooding at Piermont Marsh NY Spanning 20 Years. Wetlands 44:8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01761-9.
9. Dostálek J, Frantík T, Pavlů L (2022) Passive restoration of vegetation on gravel/sand bars in the city: a case study in Prague, Czech
Republic. Urban Ecosystem 25:1265–1277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-022-01225-8.
10. Fangyuan B, Zhijun D, Xuefei M, Ao C, Jinping C, Ling L (2025) Machine learning-based mapping wetland dynamics of the largest
freshwater lake in China. Global Ecology and Conservation, 59:e03585, ISSN 2351-9894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03585.
11. Fuller S, Boswell EP, Thompson AM, Robertson DM (2022) Water-Quality Improvement of an Agricultural Watershed Marsh After
Macrophyte Establishment and Point-Source Reduction. Wetlands 42:129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-022-01649-0.
12. Hagirath B, Kumar C, Nauriyal D K, Nayak NC, Prasad PM, Rajgopalan P, Mishra P, Trivedi PL, Agrawal A, Singh SP (2011). Trends
in Agriculture and Agricultural Practices in Ganga Basin. An Overview, Tech. rep. Ganga River Basin Management Plan.
13. Hidding B, Nolet BA, De Boer T, De Vries PP, Klaassen M (2010) Above and below ground vertebrate herbivory may each favour a
different subordinate species in an aquatic plant community. Oecologia 162(1): 199-208.
14. Hunt B (2002) Determining the Actual Hydraulic Retention Time of a Constructed Wetland Cell for Comparison with the Theoretical
Hydraulic Retention Time, Master of Science Thesis submitted to the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.15. Jain SK, Agarwal PK, Singh VP (2007a) Concepts of Water Governance for India. In Hydrology and Water Resources of India, Springer,
1155–1189.
16. Jain SK, Agarwal PK, Singh VP (2007b) Hydrology and water resources of India, Science & Business Media, Springer 57.
17. Joosten H (2016) Peatlands across the globe. Edited by: Bonn A, Allott T, Evans M, Joosten H, Stoneman R: Peatland restoration and
ecosystem services: Science, policy and practice. Cambridge University Press/ British Ecological Society, Cambridge, 17-43. ISBN:
9781139177788. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139177788
18. Kadlec RH, Knight RL (1996) Treatment wetlands. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. 893.
19. Ketcheson SJ, Price JS (2011) The impact of peatland restoration on the site hydrology of an abandoned block-cut bog. Wetlands
31:1263–1274. https://link.springer. com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13157-011-0241-0.pdf
20. Lamers LPM, Vile MA, Grootjans AP, Acreman MC, van Diggelen R, Evans MG, Richardson CJ, Rochefort L, Kooijman AM, Roelofs
JGM, Smolders AJP (2015) Ecological restoration of rich fens in Europe and North America: from trial and error to an evidence-based
approach. Biological Reviews 90: 182–203. https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/brv.12102
21. Liu J, Diamond J (2005) China’s environment in a globalizing world. Nature 435(7046):1179–1186.
22. Ministry of environment, forest and climate change, Govt. of India. https://moef.gov.in/
23. McAllister DE, Craig JF, Davidson N, Delany S, Seddon M (2001) Biodiversity impacts of large dams. Gland and Nairobi: International
Union for Conservation of Nature and United Nations Environmental Programme.
24. Oro N, Moser CF, Dalzochio MS, Oliveira MZD, Hadi A, Preuss JF, Tozetti AM (2024) Landscape use and Habitat Configuration Effects
on Amphibian Diversity in Southern Brazil Wetlands. Wetlands 44:12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01766-4.
25. Pant HK, Rechcigl JE, Adjei MB (2003) Carbon sequestration in wetlands: Concept and estimation. Food. Agriculture and Environment
1(2):308–313.
26. Prasad SN, Ramachandra TV, Ahalya N, Sengupta T, Kumar A, Tiwari AK, Vijayan VS, Vijayan L (2002). Conservation of wetlands
of India-a review.Tropical Ecology 43(1): 173-186.
27. Ramsar Convention (2018) Global Wetland Outlook: State of the World’s Wetlands and their Services to People. Ramsar Convention
Secretariat: Gland, Switzerland.
28. Report on the celebration of World Wetlands Day 2025 on 02nd February 2025 at the Parvati Arga Ramsar Site, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
https://indianwetlands.in/get-involved/world-wetlands-day/
29. Ritzema H, Limin S, Kusin K, Jauhiainen J, Wösten H (2014) Canal blocking strategies for hydrological restoration of degraded tropical
peat lands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Catena 114:11–20 https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S0341816213002531
30. SAC (2011) https://vedas.sac.gov.in/en/home.html
31. Salas EAL, Kumaran SS, Bennett R, Willis LP, Mitchell K (2024) Machine Learning-Based Classification of Small-Sized Wetlands
Using Sentinel-2 Images. AIMS Geosciences 10(1):62-79.
32. Schipper AM, Zeefat R, Tanneberger F, van Zuidam JP, Hahne W, Schep SA, Loos S, Bleuten W, Joosten H, Lapshina ED, Wassen MJ
(2007) Vegetation characteristics and eco-hydrological processes in pristine mire in the Ob River valley (Western Siberia). Plant Ecology
193:131-145. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/ s11258-006-9253-x.pdf
33. Shruthi R, Shivashankara GP (2022) Effect of HRT and seasons on the performance of pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed
wetland to treat rural wastewater. Water Practice and Technology 17 (1): 445–455. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2021.104
34. Talbot CJ, Bennett EM, Cassell K, Hanes DM, Minor EC, Paerl H, Raymond PA, Vargas R, Vi-don PG, Wollheim W (2018) The impact
of flood-ing on aquatic ecosystem services. Biogeochemistry, 141(3):439–461.
35. Turner RK, Van Den Bergh JC, Söderqvist T, Bar-endregt A, Van Der Straaten J, Maltby E, Van Ierland, EC (2000) Ecological-economic
analysis of wetlands: Scientific integration for management and policy. Ecological Economics 35(1):7–23.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(00)00164-6
36. U.S. EPA. (2002) Methods for Evaluating Wetland Condition: Study Design for Monitoring Wetlands. Office of Water, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. EPA-822-R-02-015. http://www.epa.gov/ost/standards,
http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/bawwg.
37. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Technical Service Center Denver, Colorado (2013) Guidelines for Collecting
Data to Support Statistical Analysis of Water Quality for Wetland Planning.
38. Wood KA, Stillman RA, Clarke RT, Daunt F, O'hare MT (2012) The impact of water-fowl herbivory on plant standing crop: A meta-
analysis. Hydrobiologia 686:157-167.
39. Wylynko D (1999) Prairie wetlands and carbon seques-tration. Assessing Sinks under Kyoto Protocol, 12–13.
40. www.sws.org
Kingdom. Wetlands 42:93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-022-01610-1.
2. Bassi N, Kumar MD, Sharma A, Pardha-Saradhi P (2014) Status of wetlands in India: A review of extent, ecosystem benefits, threats
and management strategies. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 2:1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2014.07.001.
3. Burian A, Kremen C, Wu JST, Beckmann M, Bulling M, Garibaldi LA, Krisztin T, Mehrabi Z, Ramankutty N, Seppelt R (2024)
Biodiversity–production feedback effects lead to intensification traps in agricultural landscapes. Nat Ecol Evol 8:752–760.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02349-0.
4. Baltzer PJ, Moore J, Salice CJ, Beauchamp VB (2024) The Effects of Legacy Sediment Removal and Floodplain Reconnection on
Riparian Plant Communities. Wetlands 44:15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01768-2.
5. Biswas Roy M, Nag S, Halder S, Roy PK (2022) Assessment of wetland potential and bibliometric review: A critical analysis of the
Ramsar sites of India. Bull Natl Res Cent 46:59. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42269-022-00740-0
6. Costanza R, De Groot R, Braat L, Kubiszewski I, Fioramonti L, Sutton P, Farber S, Grasso M (2017) Twenty years of ecosystem services:
How far have we come and how far do we still need to go? Eco-system Services 28:1–16.
7. Cozim-Melges F, Ripoll-Bosch R, Veen GF, Oggiano P, Bianchi FJJA, Putten WHV, Zanten HHEV (2024) Farming practices to enhance
biodiversity across biomes: a systematic review. NPJ biodivers 3:1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-023-00034-2.
8. Courtney S, Montalto F, Watson EB (2024) Climate and Vegetation Change in a Coastal Marsh: Two Snapshots of Groundwater
Dynamics and Tidal Flooding at Piermont Marsh NY Spanning 20 Years. Wetlands 44:8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01761-9.
9. Dostálek J, Frantík T, Pavlů L (2022) Passive restoration of vegetation on gravel/sand bars in the city: a case study in Prague, Czech
Republic. Urban Ecosystem 25:1265–1277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-022-01225-8.
10. Fangyuan B, Zhijun D, Xuefei M, Ao C, Jinping C, Ling L (2025) Machine learning-based mapping wetland dynamics of the largest
freshwater lake in China. Global Ecology and Conservation, 59:e03585, ISSN 2351-9894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03585.
11. Fuller S, Boswell EP, Thompson AM, Robertson DM (2022) Water-Quality Improvement of an Agricultural Watershed Marsh After
Macrophyte Establishment and Point-Source Reduction. Wetlands 42:129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-022-01649-0.
12. Hagirath B, Kumar C, Nauriyal D K, Nayak NC, Prasad PM, Rajgopalan P, Mishra P, Trivedi PL, Agrawal A, Singh SP (2011). Trends
in Agriculture and Agricultural Practices in Ganga Basin. An Overview, Tech. rep. Ganga River Basin Management Plan.
13. Hidding B, Nolet BA, De Boer T, De Vries PP, Klaassen M (2010) Above and below ground vertebrate herbivory may each favour a
different subordinate species in an aquatic plant community. Oecologia 162(1): 199-208.
14. Hunt B (2002) Determining the Actual Hydraulic Retention Time of a Constructed Wetland Cell for Comparison with the Theoretical
Hydraulic Retention Time, Master of Science Thesis submitted to the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.15. Jain SK, Agarwal PK, Singh VP (2007a) Concepts of Water Governance for India. In Hydrology and Water Resources of India, Springer,
1155–1189.
16. Jain SK, Agarwal PK, Singh VP (2007b) Hydrology and water resources of India, Science & Business Media, Springer 57.
17. Joosten H (2016) Peatlands across the globe. Edited by: Bonn A, Allott T, Evans M, Joosten H, Stoneman R: Peatland restoration and
ecosystem services: Science, policy and practice. Cambridge University Press/ British Ecological Society, Cambridge, 17-43. ISBN:
9781139177788. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139177788
18. Kadlec RH, Knight RL (1996) Treatment wetlands. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. 893.
19. Ketcheson SJ, Price JS (2011) The impact of peatland restoration on the site hydrology of an abandoned block-cut bog. Wetlands
31:1263–1274. https://link.springer. com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13157-011-0241-0.pdf
20. Lamers LPM, Vile MA, Grootjans AP, Acreman MC, van Diggelen R, Evans MG, Richardson CJ, Rochefort L, Kooijman AM, Roelofs
JGM, Smolders AJP (2015) Ecological restoration of rich fens in Europe and North America: from trial and error to an evidence-based
approach. Biological Reviews 90: 182–203. https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/brv.12102
21. Liu J, Diamond J (2005) China’s environment in a globalizing world. Nature 435(7046):1179–1186.
22. Ministry of environment, forest and climate change, Govt. of India. https://moef.gov.in/
23. McAllister DE, Craig JF, Davidson N, Delany S, Seddon M (2001) Biodiversity impacts of large dams. Gland and Nairobi: International
Union for Conservation of Nature and United Nations Environmental Programme.
24. Oro N, Moser CF, Dalzochio MS, Oliveira MZD, Hadi A, Preuss JF, Tozetti AM (2024) Landscape use and Habitat Configuration Effects
on Amphibian Diversity in Southern Brazil Wetlands. Wetlands 44:12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01766-4.
25. Pant HK, Rechcigl JE, Adjei MB (2003) Carbon sequestration in wetlands: Concept and estimation. Food. Agriculture and Environment
1(2):308–313.
26. Prasad SN, Ramachandra TV, Ahalya N, Sengupta T, Kumar A, Tiwari AK, Vijayan VS, Vijayan L (2002). Conservation of wetlands
of India-a review.Tropical Ecology 43(1): 173-186.
27. Ramsar Convention (2018) Global Wetland Outlook: State of the World’s Wetlands and their Services to People. Ramsar Convention
Secretariat: Gland, Switzerland.
28. Report on the celebration of World Wetlands Day 2025 on 02nd February 2025 at the Parvati Arga Ramsar Site, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
https://indianwetlands.in/get-involved/world-wetlands-day/
29. Ritzema H, Limin S, Kusin K, Jauhiainen J, Wösten H (2014) Canal blocking strategies for hydrological restoration of degraded tropical
peat lands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Catena 114:11–20 https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S0341816213002531
30. SAC (2011) https://vedas.sac.gov.in/en/home.html
31. Salas EAL, Kumaran SS, Bennett R, Willis LP, Mitchell K (2024) Machine Learning-Based Classification of Small-Sized Wetlands
Using Sentinel-2 Images. AIMS Geosciences 10(1):62-79.
32. Schipper AM, Zeefat R, Tanneberger F, van Zuidam JP, Hahne W, Schep SA, Loos S, Bleuten W, Joosten H, Lapshina ED, Wassen MJ
(2007) Vegetation characteristics and eco-hydrological processes in pristine mire in the Ob River valley (Western Siberia). Plant Ecology
193:131-145. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/ s11258-006-9253-x.pdf
33. Shruthi R, Shivashankara GP (2022) Effect of HRT and seasons on the performance of pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed
wetland to treat rural wastewater. Water Practice and Technology 17 (1): 445–455. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2021.104
34. Talbot CJ, Bennett EM, Cassell K, Hanes DM, Minor EC, Paerl H, Raymond PA, Vargas R, Vi-don PG, Wollheim W (2018) The impact
of flood-ing on aquatic ecosystem services. Biogeochemistry, 141(3):439–461.
35. Turner RK, Van Den Bergh JC, Söderqvist T, Bar-endregt A, Van Der Straaten J, Maltby E, Van Ierland, EC (2000) Ecological-economic
analysis of wetlands: Scientific integration for management and policy. Ecological Economics 35(1):7–23.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(00)00164-6
36. U.S. EPA. (2002) Methods for Evaluating Wetland Condition: Study Design for Monitoring Wetlands. Office of Water, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. EPA-822-R-02-015. http://www.epa.gov/ost/standards,
http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/bawwg.
37. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Technical Service Center Denver, Colorado (2013) Guidelines for Collecting
Data to Support Statistical Analysis of Water Quality for Wetland Planning.
38. Wood KA, Stillman RA, Clarke RT, Daunt F, O'hare MT (2012) The impact of water-fowl herbivory on plant standing crop: A meta-
analysis. Hydrobiologia 686:157-167.
39. Wylynko D (1999) Prairie wetlands and carbon seques-tration. Assessing Sinks under Kyoto Protocol, 12–13.
40. www.sws.org
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