Wetland
The major wetland types are River/Stream (65162 ha), Lagoons (38442 ha), Reservoirs (26167 ha) and waterlogged (20305 ha).Compared to coastal land , the high land and middle land hold very few wetlands. The state consist of 160.6 thousand hectare (ha) of wetlands i.e. 4.13 per cent of the state. There are a total of 4,354 wetlands of which 2,592 are mainly wetlands with area less than2.25 ha each. Rest of the 1.762 wetlands is divided into two types- inland and coastal. Kerala has 169 natural coastal wetlands with a total area of 40.9 thousand ha. There are 1,593 inland wetlands with total area 117.1 thousand ha.
|
|
Wetland Category
|
Number
of
Wetlands
|
Total
Wetland
Area
|
% of
wetland
area
|
Open water
|
|
|
Inland Wetlands - Natural
|
|
|
|
Post monsoon
|
Pre monsoon
|
|
|
Lakes/Ponds
|
3
|
2643
|
1.65
|
2259
|
2125
|
|
|
Riverine wetlands
|
18
|
410
|
0.26
|
410
|
410
|
|
|
Waterlogged
|
922
|
20305
|
12.64
|
11495
|
7771
|
|
|
River/Stream
|
172
|
65162
|
40.58
|
61853
|
60338
|
|
|
Inland Wetlands -Man-made
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reservoirs/Barrages
|
39
|
26167
|
16.29
|
24583
|
23421
|
|
|
Tanks/Ponds
|
439
|
2435
|
1.52
|
1466
|
530
|
|
|
Total - Inland
|
1593
|
117122
|
72.93
|
102066
|
94595
|
|
|
Coastal Wetlands - Natural
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lagoons
|
39
|
38442
|
23.94
|
36819
|
35796
|
|
|
Creeks
|
19
|
80
|
0.05
|
77
|
77
|
|
|
Sand/Beach
|
111
|
2354
|
1.47
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
Total - Coastal
|
169
|
40876
|
25.45
|
36896
|
35873
|
|
|
Sub-Total
|
1762
|
157998
|
98.39
|
138962
|
130468
|
|
|
Wetlands (<2.25 ha), mainly Tanks
|
2592
|
2592
|
1.61
|
-
|
-
|
|
|
Total
|
4354
|
160590
|
100.00
|
138962
|
130468
|
Type-wise wetland distribution in Kerala
Source: National Wetland Atlas Kerala, MoEF&CC
"Inventory of Natural Wetlands of Kerala State & Development of an Information System- A Holistic Approach using Remote Sensing & GIS- Part I", Part II,- Project carried out by Kerala State Remote Sensing & Environment Centre Planning (KSREC) with the Financial Assistance by KSCSTE