After DPS Flamingo Lake, NRI wetland in Navi Mumbai may get conservation tag

Navi Mumbai: The internationally acclaimed Wildlife Institute India, under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFCC), has recommended the inclusion of the NRI wetland in Nerul, Navi Mumbai as well, along with the DPS Flamingo Lake, as a conservation reserve for aquatic birds.

“This is a significant development in our fight to save Navi Mumbai wetlands as part of the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS) management plan,” said NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar.

The Wildlife Institute has been invited by the state forest department to study the DPS Flamingo Lake area for recommending the Conservation Reserve status for the pink bird destination.

The WII, in its ‘Assessment on the significance of the DPS Lake, Navi Mumbai for Flamingos’ said its ground study “clearly calls for inclusion of select water bodies in the Arabian Sea inlet outside of TCFS to be also managed for aquatic birds, and more importantly the DPS Lake and NRI Lake for flamingos”.

Kumar, who obtained the report, explained the recommendations at a victory parade organised by environment lovers at the DPS Wetland at Nerul in Navi Mumbai, to celebrate the ‘conservation reservation’ tag for the 30-acre waterbody.

Earlier, CIDCO had planned a golf course on NRI Wetland.

The Navi Mumbai International Airport in its Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report submitted to the MOEFCC has, however, stated that the golf course has been cancelled, Kumar pointed out.

NMIAL has also repeatedly said in its environment compliance reports that the biodiversity around the project area will be preserved as suggested by BNHS which has repeatedly called for preserving these water bodies which are part of the TCFS satellite wetland ecosystem.

"Thus, the decks are cleared now for the protection of all these five Wetlands and the government must act with rocket speed to save the water bodies,” he said.

The Wildlife Institute said flamingos being aquatic birds roost only in water during both day and night, and roosting site selection is once again dictated by water level. Flamingos prefer to roost in areas where the need to adapt to fluctuating water levels due to tidal flux is lower.

The DPS Lake and adjoining sheltered water bodies offer such an environment, highlighting the significance of these wetlands for flamingos. The flamingo tracking studies undertaken by BNHS clearly show the use of the DPS Lake by the tagged birds. The fine-scale movements of the tagged flamingos further show the extensive use of the sheltered wetlands outside of TCFS, the Institute said.

Moreover, the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management has recently surveyed the Wetlands at Panje, NRI Complex and TS Chanakya, as per information obtained from the State environment Department by NatConnect via the RTI Act route

Kumar said the state environment department must quickly notify these wetlands for protection under the Environment Protection Act and declare them as conservation reserves.

Former corporator Netra Shirke and Sandeep Sareen of Navi Mumbai Environment Preservation Society thanked Forest Minister Ganesh Naik for aggressively pushing the case for conserving the DPS Flamingo Lake.

“Now nothing should prevent the government from granting conservation status to all the key wetlands,” Sareen said.

The green groups have expressed the hope that Navi Mumbai, known as the Flamingo City, will remain “in the pink” forever.

About a hundred people with most in pink attire as symbolic salute to flamingos, took part in the victory parade on Sunday morning.