Earth Browns, Wetland Blues and Flamingo Pink

20 May, 2026

Along the Odisha coast, near Bhitarkanika National Park, decades of shrimp farming, agricultural expansion, and diverted upstream waters were stripping the mangroves that once protected the shoreline. With the green barrier gone, local communities stand far more exposed to cyclones, relentless erosion, and the slow poisoning of their fields by rising salinity.

The 33-year-old Kalakanhu Swain, a former daily-wage construction labourer, returned home during the COVID-19 lockdown. After training in nursery techniques and tidal hydrology through a wetlands project initiative, he became caretaker of a 12-hectare mangrove plantation near Jagannathpur village. His daily tasks are technical and labour-intensive. He raises nurseries, collects seeds from healthy mother trees, and monitors sapling survival rates. Most critically, he digs intricate "fishbone" channels that allow tidal water to reach the plantation without stagnating.

The changes are beginning to show. Fish and crab populations have started returning to nearby waters, while bird sightings have increased across the area. Parts of the coastline have become more stable against erosion, and the mangroves now help reduce saltwater intrusion into surrounding farmland. “This 12-hectare forest will protect us from cyclones and soil erosion, while also benefiting agriculture, increasing biodiversity, and supporting local farmers, artisans, and wildlife,” Kalakanhu said. For villages like Jagannathpur, the initiative also offers hope of reversing years of outward migration.

Further south in Erode, Tamil Nadu, one of India’s major turmeric growing regions, farmers were grappling with another kind of ecological strain. Rising input costs, declining yields, and repeated droughts had made conventional turmeric cultivation increasingly difficult to sustain. On her 1.75 acres of owned land, along with leased plots, Kowsalya Devi began shifting to agroecological practices after participating in the trainings under the sustainable spices initiative. The practices included soil and water testing, intercropping for shade and moisture retention, biodiversity-friendly farming, natural pest management, and soil regeneration.

Within two years, Kowsalya and fellow farmers achieved Farm Sustainability Assessment certification, with 94 per cent reaching silver level and 6 per cent gold. Yields stabilised and, in some cases, improved alongside signs of returning biodiversity. “When the birds arrive, our yield increases,” said neighbouring farmer Duraiswamy, whose fields lie near Vellode Bird Sanctuary. Kowsalya now runs small processing units for chemical free turmeric, sells into premium markets, and trains other farmers in sustainable cultivation practices. In 2025, she received the Ministry of Agriculture’s Best Organic Farm (Women) Award.

Along the industrial edges of Mumbai, more than 130,000 Greater and Lesser Flamingos arrive at Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary between November and May, turning large stretches of the wetland pink. The birds migrate mainly from the Great Rann of Kutch, making Thane Creek one of the most important feeding grounds along the Central Asian Flyway. The wetland was declared a flamingo sanctuary in 2018, covering 1,690 hectares, and later recognised as a Ramsar Site in 2022.

In Navi Mumbai, and surrounding parts of Thane Creek particularly around Nerul and Vashi, residents have built a strong public culture around the birds through annual “Flamingos by the Bay” festivals. Citizen groups such as Save Navi Mumbai Environment continue to campaign against illegal dumping, debris encroachment, and infrastructure projects that threaten wetland habitats. Many locals participate in citizen science monitoring as well. A few years ago,with support from the Coastal and Marine Protected Areas project and the Maharashtra Forest Department Mangrove Cell, a state-of-the-art Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre in Airoli was developed as a gateway to the sanctuary, offering interpretation facilities and training local fishers as naturalists who now lead guided tours.

Northwards, in the Himalayan pine forest belt in Himachal Pradesh, the forest floor becomes a carpet of dry needles. In increasingly hot and dry conditions, these needles (locally called pirul) become potent fuel for forest fires. It is a pattern repeated across the pine belt in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, releasing stored carbon and degrading soil with each season. Long before unusual winter fires drew wider attention, some communities in the region had already begun experimenting with ways to remove pine needles from the forest floor and turn them into a source of income.

In 2019, Hansa with 23 other women from the village participated in a training under the forest ecosystem services initiative and began weaving pine needles into baskets, trays, and decorative items. But COVID-19 slowed momentum and exposed the fragility of market linkages. The women have since formalised themselves as the Dev Bhumi Pathrevi Producer Group. With support from a market development agency, they secured initial orders worth ₹50,000 in 2022. “We want to improve the designs and reach bigger markets,” Hansa said, as the group prepared to partner with a regional federation and higher value buyers. Over time, it has the potential of becoming a steadier source of seasonal income.

In the eastern Himalayas, around Khecheopalri Lake in West Sikkim, local communities have long followed customary restrictions on fishing, extraction, and disturbance around the wetland. In February 2025, the lake became Sikkim’s first Ramsar Site, bringing wider recognition to a landscape communities had protected for generations.

Beneath the wetland lies peat soil formed slowly over centuries. These soils store exceptionally high amounts of carbon, often far more densely than many forest ecosystems. The National peatland assessment released in 2025 found that Himalayan peatlands such as Khecheopalri hold the country’s highest median carbon stock at 92.5 tonnes per hectare within the top metre of soil. At Khecheopalri itself, peat reaches depths of up to 1.2 metres, with soil organic carbon ranging between 17 and 39 per cent.

Across these landscapes, ecological repair or conservation is taking different forms with local action. In some places, it is driven by livelihood needs. In others, by customary practice, local organising, or attempts to reduce growing climate risks.

These distinct efforts are feeding into India’s commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), particularly the 30×30 target of protecting and restoring 30 per cent of the world’s land and oceans. They show that real change begins in the daily choices of ordinary people who refuse to abandon their local landscapes.