Wetlands are transitional ecosystems between land and water encompassing water, soil and organism that are adapted to the unique wet environment making it one of the most productive ecosystems. Natural functioning of the wetlands supports rich agricultural and wild diversity as well as provides environmental services such as flood protection, nutrient and sediment retention, maintenance of ground water table and so on that in turn become valuable benefits to the society. These services have been embedded into our daily livelihood to such an extent that without wetlands, we would simply be deprived of drinking water, varieties of rice, allopathic/traditional medications and several other basic amenities that we take for granted everyday. Moreover, majority of the poverty-stricken community in rural Nepal still depends on the occupational opportunities based on the direct use of wetlands resources. That is why participatory management approach has been embraced to ‘use wetlands wisely’ or ‘maintaining the ecological integrity of wetlands while sustaining the economic benefits’ for alleviating poverty.

Paradigm of wise use of wetlands for poverty alleviation therefore relies on a consensus of poverty and environmental degradation nexus that was first prescribed by the UN Bruntland Commission on Sustainable Development. This particular paradigm advocates equal precedence amongst environmental capital (benefits accruing from environmental services), economic capital (liquid medium or mechanism representing wealth) and social capital (informal structures and mechanisms within society) with an aim to integrate environmental and social considerations into economic policy. Such paradigm has gained a significant momentum over the years and this year’s world wetlands day is being celebrated with a thematic emphasis on wise use of wetlands as a tool for poverty alleviation. Needless to say, wise use and poverty alleviation has become an imperative priority of the least developing countries like Nepal with wide ranging implications on national planning and policies influenced by the international priorities such as millennium development goals (MDGs).

Nepal’s ongoing tenth national plan accentuates on eradicating poverty through sustainable management of natural resources including wetlands so that MDGs can be timely achieved. Such plan is further substantiated by the wetlands specific national policy of 2003 that emphasizes on wise use through people’s participation. Rapid appraisal of the plan and policy certainly portray wise use of wetlands as panacea for poverty alleviation as they have carefully; a) incorporated pertinent responses to the imminent pressure on wetlands so that the potential loss of structure (ecosystem itself), loss of function (environmental services) and loss of composition (species abundance and diversity) can be reversed and b) addressed the issues of property right, social inclusion, equity as well as economic valuation in managing wetlands and crafting poverty alleviation measures efficient at the national scale. However, effective implementation of such plans and policies has remained paradoxical in Nepal, prominently depicted by the disgraceful Bagmati River right in the heart of Kathmandu. 

An unholy condition of the holy Bagmati River symbolizes nothing but the perpetuated mockery of national policies and international commitments. Such disdain to the wise use of wetlands is result of the political system plagued by lack of accountability as well as macroeconomic and sectoral policies that the system endorses without taking sustainability into account. As a result, country has embarked upon the myopic strategies to support and stimulate conservation policies for immediate political benefits. It is worthwhile to mention here that author of the highly acclaimed book ‘Environmental Policy’, Jane Roberts made a plain yet profound inference that prospect of effective implementation of any plans, policies, programs or paradigms towards sustaining environmental and economic capital will be inadequate in a society run by the political system that restricts the formation of social capital.

In that milieu, contemporary connotation of this year’s world wetlands day celebration theme would be meaningful only if paradigm of wise use of wetlands for poverty alleviation can be transformed from paradox into panacea. Such transformation requires sincere initiatives at the local, national, regional and global echelon through a) acknowledging the role of social capital in sustaining environmental and economic capital within an egalitarian political system b) undertaking adaptive measures to mitigate consequences arising from vulnerability to the natural threats such as climate change to curtail the potential loss of economic capital and c) prioritizing national investment in environmental capital towards integrated resources management so that improved productivity will correlate with the poverty alleviation indicators.

This article is based on the country paper presented at “International Training on Tropical Wetlands Management” held in Thailand and was published in Spotlight Weekly Vol. 25, No. 21 on the occassion of World Wetland Day February 2, 2006.