78-Management strategies of lakes in India

Abstract

The importance of lakes, ponds and reservoirs as key elements of the aquatic ecosystem which provide valuable habitat for fish, wildlife and plants and important recreational opportunities for people. This paper provides an overview of the lake management in India. Lakes all over the country are exhibiting varying degrees of environmental degradation caused by encroachment, eutrophication & siltation lakes gets polluted from anthropogenic activities in their catchments. Actions to control & prevent these problems are addressed, with a focus such as role of government in conservation of lakes, various NGO's, public interest litigation, the national lake conversation plan, the promises made in 12th World lake conference held in Jaipur on 29th Oct. 2007. The management of some lakes are discussed in the paper. Finally the issues related to lack of coordination of people, ineffectiveness of legislation are discussed and possible solution to these impediments is explored.