Thread by @leofsaldanha

An enriching not so early morning outing at Sarakki lake, south Bangalore.

Go see the lake teeming with spot billed pelicans, cormorants, purple moorhen, little grebe, painted storks, egrets, pond heron, fish, fishers and walkers!

If only the walking path (not natural to the lake) was gently sloping into the water, the lake would have been teeming with more wild birds - particularly dozens of species of waders. (Shores potentially support about 70% of bird life)

This is why the Justice Patil Cmt report, an outcome of a PIL by @esgindia1 advocated gentle foreshore, and walking paths outside lakes in no development zones (min 30 m) and perhaps shaded with endemic fruit & flowering trees (and bushes).

Now what we have here, we can vastly improve. And @BBMPCOMM @BBMPAdmn can stop feeding #Vimos engineers contracts (do we owe them all contracts?) to destroy lakes with their

terrible over-engineered and un-ecological designs, which is only meant to bump up cost of rehabilitation - often times 5-6 fold, and don’t be surprised if it is 20 fold. And you can guess who the contractor would be.

What if all lakes were re-designated biodiversity conservation zones, and under the Biological Diversity Act and Forest Rights Act? That way the wildlife would be protected in community conserved areas, and fishers would also be able to sustain their livelihoods.

To know how to protect your lakes in an socially inclusive and ecologically wise way? Check this: bit.ly/3kd24Fq

@BBMPSWMSplComm @BBMPCOMM @BBMPAdmn @BBMPSWMJtComm @CMofKarnataka @BSBommai @siddaramaiah @DKShivakumar @Sowmyareddyr @moefcc @RamsarConv @WetlandsTWI @IPBES @moefcc @IUCN @esgindia1 @CEJI_india @Kspcbkarnataka @Srinivas_IFS @UNEP @UrsKshithij @Eshamaster @RBPachhapur