Demystifying WIAMS – Establishing a Wetlands Inventory, Assessment and Monitoring Framework for Ramsar sites in India

24 Jul, 2019

Wetland inventory, assessment and monitoring are widely recognised as essential tools to support integration of ecosystem services and climate risks within the integrated wetland management planning processes. In the absence of a practical and unified approach, establishing inventory, assessment and monitoring system has remained a challenging task for the wetland site managers. As a step towards streamlining the wetlands inventory, assessment and monitoring system (WIAMS) framework in the Indian context, an expert consultation was organised in New Delhi on 23-24 July 2019. The workshop helped to develop an understanding of the core information base required to describe the wetland, set management objectives, and establish monitoring indicators. Parameters for wetland inventory, assessment and monitoring were established for key wetland features including extent, catchment, hydrology, biodiversity and ecosystem services, livelihoods, and institutions and governance. These parameters were further prioritised for their relevance in management, feasibility in terms of resource, time and capacity and practicality of assessment. Setting of the management objectives and WIAMS as complementary and adaptive processes was emphasised. Moreover, WIAMS ought to be carried out within the framework of climate risks which could be done by development of climate impact chains through participatory processes.

Results of the expert consultations and experiences from field implementation will be consolidated into a WIAMS guidance document for Ramsar site managers.