48-Strengthening peoples participation in lake conservation

Abstract

Lake is a large body of water contained in a depression of the earth's surface, and supplied from the drainage of a more or less extended area. Through the ages, lakes have been the lifelines of most cities in India. They were preserved and looked after by the people, as they are main source of water supply for drinking and irrigation. Lakes are found all over the country, are either natural or built by people. Over the years, they have gradually depleted, leading to a number of problems in urban areas such as flooding, water scarcity, and water logging. The main causes are inflow of domestic sewage, agricultural run-off, discharge of industrial effluents, over-fishing, introduction of exotic species and habitat degradation from population growth, expansion of cities. Peoples' Participation in Lake Conservation would always improves decision making as it allows public to represent their new ideas or view prior to the development of the new conservation plan or policy. The stakeholders on lake are from different segments of society and thus in conservation programme peoples' participation allow different people from variety of backgrounds and interests to participate in decision that affect their community. A variety of individuals and organizations — stakeholders including Local Community; Government Department and others should involve and participate in Lake Conservation Programme. The ability to involve people in any Natural Resource Conservation Plan is critical and challenging. Behind the strength and success of Lake Conservation programme, participation of each stakeholder is essential. The paper will, therefore, search, explore and elaborate the key steps behind the "Successful Peoples' Participation in Lake Conservation Programme".