A few kilometres north of the Indian border in Kapilvastu district the birth place of Buddha lies Jagdishpur lake, the largest reservoir in Nepal, and one of the ten wetlands in the country listed under the Ramsar Convention. The lake is home to about 23,000 birds according to the latest surveyprobably the largest single avian population in the country. Local farmer Purnabashi Chaudhary often visits the lake to collect medicinal plants. When we reached the lake in the early afternoon on the first week of February, Chaudhary was resting in the shade of a tree after applying the juice of the Madaar plant to his teeth. It relieves pain, he said, pointing to a shrub nearby. But over grazing of goats has left very few plants around the lake now. The lake was declared a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention in 2003, but since then there has been little action to protect the lake. There is very minimal funding available to protect or conserve this lake, it’s mostly our voluntary efforts that is keeping it alive, said Abdul Rashid Khan, a local conservationist who lives near the lake. In the early 1970s the reservoir was built to irrigate adjoining paddy fields and later expanded to 225 hectares. This became one of the best habitats for endemic and migratory birds. However, locals were not aware of its importance until recently. People used to think that these birds come every year so what’s wrong with killing them for meat, added Khan. This all changed when the local communities came together to control such activities a few years back. But the poaching hasn’t stopped completely. Some people still kill birds. If asked not to then they threaten us and say [the birds] are public property, Chaudhary said. Weighty wetlands According to the Ramsar Convention, 2,293 lakes are listed as wetlands of international importance globally, covering 230 million hectares. Listed as the richest ecosystems on earth after tropical rainforests, these wetlands support wild animals and plants, some of which are on the brink of extinction. Jagdishpur hosts not only water fowl but one horned rhinos and royal Bengal tigers also use these wetlands as source of water. Wetlands are also a major source of livelihoods for communities across Nepal. From fish to fodder, drinking water to medicinal plants, communities benefit from the natural wealth of wetlands. We can hardly think of life without this water source as it irrigates our fields, provides water to drink, said Krishna Chaudhary, drinking untreated water from the source of Ghodaghodi lake in Kailali district. We are at the source so I can drink water without treatment, but as you move south, it gets polluted and you can’t imagine drinking it, he smiled. Declining fish, worried fishermen About 21 ethnic communities directly depend on the wetlands of Nepal and fishing is one of their major occupations. It’s hard to get fish nowadays, wetlands are shrinking or disappearing and there are too many people, said Bimala Bote, a fisherwoman near Jagdishpur lake in Kapilvastu in west Nepal. It’s not only in Jagdishpur that fish are declining. Rupa Chaudhary in Maghi village near Ghodaghodi lake in far west had a similar experience. Research shows that fish diversity is declining rapidly in the wetlands of Nepal, especially in the southern plains. In Ghodaghodi lake alone there has been a 50% decline in fish diversity over the last 20 years. Twenty-seven fish species were recorded in 1998, but only 13 species were found in 2017. Fishing communities in the east are equally worried. On the Koshi riverbank we met Chandan Kumar Mukhiya, a fisherman who feeds his family of four. As fishing became more difficult he opted to take a part time job as an electrician in India’s capital New Delhi. Fish are declining and some days I have to return home empty handed. A few years ago it wasn’t the case, Mukhiya said. A 2009 study found fish from the wetlands of Koshi Tappu are the most important source of food and income for local people. There are 15 ethnic communities who depend on fishing in the Koshi Tappu wetland alone. In the past there were few people who used to fish but nowadays everyone is fishing that’s why it’s hard to find fish, added Mukhiya. Wetlands are also the major source of drinking water for wildlife, including rare or endangered species. Wildlife officials said an increasingly dry climate across the country has put wetlands under threat and this will lead to shortage of water for animals to drink. We have already started pumping groundwater and collecting it in the ponds for wildlife to drink in western Nepal, but increasing dryness may lead to similar conditions in central and eastern Nepal, said Bed Kumar Dhakal, chief warden at Chitwan National Park. We don’t have long-term data to help us understand the pattern of change in our wetlands. I think is very important to invest in this so we can make better plans before it’s too late, he added. According to Nepal’s Water and Energy Commission Secretariat report, the annual average precipitation over Nepal is decreasing at the rate of 9.8 mm per decade. Undervalued and ignored Government officials agree that there hasn’t been enough done to protect wetlands and it is low priority on their agenda. With increasing population pressure, land degradation, haphazard road construction and unplanned urbanization, there is tremendous pressure on wetlands and we should be more serious about protecting these water bodies which are often termed as the earth’s kidneys, said Maheshwar Dhakal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Nepal government. With the federal system in place now, we hope that wetlands will receive more attention in future, he added. Nepal promulgated a new constitution in 2015 and decided to establish a federal system, abolishing the monarchy. Under the new constitution, federal governments are now responsible for managing wetlands. It’s not about who has been given authority, it’s about where this falls on their priority list. Wetlands have been thought of as wastelands despite of their significant role in ecosystems and encroached or destroyed, said Hem Sagar Baral, Country Manager at Zoological Society of London’s Nepal office and a noted ornithologist in the country…