National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) completes wetland verification in Maharashtra

Key facts

• The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), functioning under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), has completed documentation and ground-truthing for all but 11 of Maharashtra's 23,415 wetlands.
• The verification process enables these waterbodies to be formally notified and brought under legal protection under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules.
• Ahmednagar district has the highest number of wetlands in the state at 1,596, followed by Nashik with 1,236 and Chandrapur with 1,231.
• Other documented wetlands include 1,093 in Raigad, 247 in Thane, 210 in Mumbai suburban, and 37 in Mumbai city.
• The remaining 11 wetlands awaiting verification are located in the Pune district.
• The MoEFCC launched the decadal-change version of the National Wetland Atlas in 2020 to track changes in wetlands over time.