Flying Colours of Vembanad

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"A wise old Chinese proverb has it that one picture is worth 10,000 words"; this famous phrase was borrowed from "THE BOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS" by SALIM ALI Published by THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY in 1941. The pictorial glory of birds which are blessed with colourful plumages and charm by natures is now a days well brought out through modern optical technology oriented photography. India being a biodiversity rich country, the responsibility is vested with every citizen to understand the glory of our precious living varieties and ensure its conservation and sustenance. The avifauna of India includes around 1314 species, of which forty-two are endemic and twenty-five rare or accidental.Two species have been extirpated in India and eighty-two species are globally threatened. The State of Kerala has 500 species of birds, 17 of which are endemic to Western Ghats, and 24 species fall under the various threatened categories of IUCN.

"Flying Colours of Vembanad", is a beautiful pictorial display resulted from the continuous and systematic assessment of avian fauna from 19 different spots of Vembanad lake and adjoining agro - ecosystems.

Vembanad Kol Wetland, a very significant ecosystem was included in the list of wetlands of international importance, as defined by the Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands. It is home to more than 20,000 waterfowls, which is considered to be the third largest such population in India.

A depleted avifauna is a feature not only of India, but of other nations, where many birds (including several known or probable frugivores) have become extinct following human settlement.

Elimination of avian diversity from our ecosystem directly disrupts the dynamic ecological and livelihood processes, such as seed dispersal of plants/ tree, forest regeneration, sustaining insect population, pollination, ecotourism and recreation. This is a precarious situation in which the consequence of loss of single diversity and its implications may have considerable impact to biodiversity and this is a subject worthy of study at the levels of individual species and its surrounding ecosystem.

Vembanad is an area typically characterised by anthropogenic over exploitation, pollution, encroachment and climate change widely affecting the hydrologic cycle which in turn impacts wetlands.The changes in habitats will critically affect wetland-related species, such as birds, fishes, reptiles and amphibians.

Kerala State Biodiversity Board proposes a continuous assessment of biodiversity from the five major wetlands of Kerala such as Vembanad, Ashtamudi, Sasthamkotta, Pookode and Vellayani to understand the potency and issues related to those ecosystems. On the culmination of the continuous assessment of one annual cycle at Vembanad, KSBB developed a book called " flying colours of Vembanad", a colourful display of avian diversity of the critically conservation seeking fragile ecosystem for the kind consideration of our respected citizens and policy makers.

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