The All Loktak Lake Areas Fishers Union Manipur (ALLAFUM), the Indigenous Perspectives (Imphal), and the Environment Support Group (Bangalore) welcomed the February 25, 2022 order of a special bench of the Manipur High Court, which reaffirmed that no development in the Loktak Wetland Complex region can proceed without permission of the court.
The court issued the order, taking note of deficiencies in the preparation of the Integrated Management Plan for Wise Use of Loktak Lake 2020-25 prepared by the Loktak Development Authority (LDA) and Wetlands International South Asia, stated a joint statement by the three groups.
Loktak Lake is one Ramsar site and is located on the far eastern corner of India bordering Myanmar. This lake is the largest natural freshwater lake of India, and is formed with the meandering drainage of Manipur, Imphal river and Nambul rivers in the valley south of Imphal.
On the lake, over 1500 fishers live in houses built on the floating phumdis (heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil and organic matter at various stages of decomposition), sustaining their livelihoods with wooden canoes (no polluting motorboats are allowed by the community) and traditional fishing. On such phumdis, which can be as large as 40 sq km, is the Keibul Lamjao National Park, the world’s only floating protected area, a unique habitat hosting the critically endangered Sangai (Eld’s deer), Manipur’s State animal, and several other rare species.
