Vembanad Lake-An endangered treasure

               The Vembanad lake together with its related water bodies which constitutes the largest of the wetland ecosystems on the western coast of India is rich in biodiversity and besides, is one of the most fertile regions with unparalleled productivity. Apart from this, it accounts for the heritage and the sustainable economic stature of the locality. Food security is a looming cloud of threat over the horizon of Kerala in its march towards self sufficiency. The state is currently treading the paths of jeopardy unable to meet the ever rising demands and the limited food production with in the state.

                The vembanad lake and the associated lands posses the special geographic features by which they can be brought under cultivation in two seasons an year. The lake is bountiful with abundant supply of fish and other marine organisms, throughout the year.The area which has been declared as a Ramsar site is a home to variety of rare species of birds ,reptiles and plants.

                Wetlands and paddyfields are being encroached and destroyed far and wide all across Kerala. The Kerala Land Reforms Act which was a landmark in the political history of  state had served to establish a democratic social platform on the issues related to  land and its ownership. However the land mafia and the tourism lobbys are amassing land by the blatant violation of the  land reforms act and other laws including the wetlands conservation act, and is deforming the land which is laid barren, making them unsuitable for cultivation. The unscrupulous deformation of  the cultivable lands by the land mafia in the name of a defective tourism rings the death knell of the social, economic and environmental well being of an entire population specially of the community of the Kuttanad, as all land deforming actvities ends up in total destabilisation of food security.

                A People's movement is imperative in this context so as to nurture the productivity of the state  by improving fish  supply and paddy cultivation by means of sustainable development.The movement also aims at developing effective tactics to curb the encroachment of the land grabbers and those who promote tourism at the cost of the irrevocable damage to the community and the environment.