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<p>Wetlands are diminishing world-wide. Ramsar Convention has played a noteworthy role to designate the wetlands with ecological, socio-economic and cultural significance as Ramsar sites. However, unsustainable anthropogenic activities continue to threaten both Ramsar sites and other wetland complexes without any legal designation, particularly diminishing the diversity of various flora and fauna. Conservation resources are limited. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the priority areas and allocate the available resources in order to ensure optimum protection of biodiversity thriving in those wetlands. Despite this urgency, systematic approaches for prioritizing conservation areas within heterogeneous wetland landscapes remain poorly explored. To address this gap we designed a coalescing framework which integrates multiple components- wetland degradation mapping, wetland biodiversity hotspot (considering bird as indicator species), identification of important habitats, habitat quality and connectivity assessments to identify the conservation priority zones in wetland landscapes. We implemented our framework at East Kolkata Wetlands to address where and what should be protected within this heterogeneous wetland landscape. We identified 12.83 km<sup>2</sup> as top 10% priority area as the best part of this wetland landscape for biodiversity conservation. In addition, we also identified areas falling under 50–90% conservation priority zones. Protection and maintenance of these areas will increase the overall habitat quality and habitat connectivity ultimately influencing the sustenance of overall biodiversity. As &lt;50% conservation priority area has relatively lower priority values thus, can be used for sustainable economic activities without degrading the ecological characteristics of existing wetlands. Such multicomponent framework will produce more comprehensive and realistic conservation prioritization scenarios than any single method or partial combination. It can be broadly applicable for guiding biodiversity conservation at wetland landscapes situated adjacent to urban areas across the globe.</p>

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Conservation Prioritization in Heterogeneous Wetland Landscape: A Framework to Safeguard Wetland Biodiversity

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月16日

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  • Souvik Barik,
  • Antara Sarkar,
  • Goutam Kumar Saha,
  • Subhendu Mazumdar

摘要

Wetlands are diminishing world-wide. Ramsar Convention has played a noteworthy role to designate the wetlands with ecological, socio-economic and cultural significance as Ramsar sites. However, unsustainable anthropogenic activities continue to threaten both Ramsar sites and other wetland complexes without any legal designation, particularly diminishing the diversity of various flora and fauna. Conservation resources are limited. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the priority areas and allocate the available resources in order to ensure optimum protection of biodiversity thriving in those wetlands. Despite this urgency, systematic approaches for prioritizing conservation areas within heterogeneous wetland landscapes remain poorly explored. To address this gap we designed a coalescing framework which integrates multiple components- wetland degradation mapping, wetland biodiversity hotspot (considering bird as indicator species), identification of important habitats, habitat quality and connectivity assessments to identify the conservation priority zones in wetland landscapes. We implemented our framework at East Kolkata Wetlands to address where and what should be protected within this heterogeneous wetland landscape. We identified 12.83 km2 as top 10% priority area as the best part of this wetland landscape for biodiversity conservation. In addition, we also identified areas falling under 50–90% conservation priority zones. Protection and maintenance of these areas will increase the overall habitat quality and habitat connectivity ultimately influencing the sustenance of overall biodiversity. As <50% conservation priority area has relatively lower priority values thus, can be used for sustainable economic activities without degrading the ecological characteristics of existing wetlands. Such multicomponent framework will produce more comprehensive and realistic conservation prioritization scenarios than any single method or partial combination. It can be broadly applicable for guiding biodiversity conservation at wetland landscapes situated adjacent to urban areas across the globe.