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Good practice Imported

Pallikaranai Marsh — A Ramsar-Listed Flood Buffer for South Chennai, Undermined by Continuing Encroachment

India · Chennai · See the India profile · See the Chennai profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 27% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Pallikaranai Marsh, a 1,247-hectare Ramsar wetland (designated 2022) in Chennai, buffers monsoon floods for the city's south and hosts 120+ bird species, yet has shrunk from roughly 6,000 to under 600 hectares since the 1960s despite a 2018 state restoration effort.

~6,000 hectares
Historical marsh extent (1960s)
<600 hectares
Current marsh extent (2026)
1,247.5 hectares
Ramsar-notified area (April 2022)
120+ species
Recorded bird species (n/a)
Pallikaranai Marsh — A Ramsar-Listed Flood Buffer for South Chennai, Undermined by Continuing Encroachment

Details

Promoter
Tamil Nadu Forest Department (Pallikaranai Marshland Reserve Forest)
Period
2007–ongoing (Ramsar designation 2022)
Keywords
wetland conservation, urban flood management, biodiversity

Context

Pallikaranai Marsh is a freshwater marsh in south Chennai, Tamil Nadu, that historically covered an estimated 6,000 hectares and served as the natural floodplain for the surrounding area. It was declared a reserve forest by the Tamil Nadu government in 2007 and designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in April 2022 (Ramsar Site No. 2481), with 1,247.5 hectares formally notified.

Results

The marsh is one of South India's most biodiverse urban wetlands, with more than 120 recorded bird species — including flamingo, glossy ibis and purple swamphen — alongside reptiles, mammals, fish and molluscs. It drains monsoon runoff from a network of interconnected waterbodies across neighbourhoods including Velachery, Injambakkam, Sembakkam, Nanganallur and Hasthinapuram, making it South Chennai's principal natural flood buffer and freshwater aquifer recharge zone. Despite active restoration since 2018 and a 2024 National Green Tribunal order to remove illegal encroachments, urbanisation has cut the marsh from its historical extent of roughly 6,000 hectares to under 600 hectares today.

Conclusions

Waste dumping from an adjacent landfill remains an active pressure, an honest illustration that formal protection and restoration funding have not yet resolved the encroachment driving the wetland's decline.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Restoration financed since 2018 through India's National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change; no total programme budget figure is published in available sources.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Ongoing protection and restoration effort spanning 2007 (reserve-forest declaration) to the present, with a 2024 enforcement order still being carried out.
Staffing & skills
Tamil Nadu Forest Department (Pallikaranai Marshland Reserve Forest), National Green Tribunal, enforcement

Conditions for success

  • Ramsar designation (2022) raising the site's formal protection profile
  • 2024 National Green Tribunal order to remove illegal apartment and IT-park encroachments
  • National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change financing active restoration since 2018

Common failure modes

  • Urbanisation has cut the marsh from roughly 6,000 hectares historically to under 600 hectares today despite 2007 reserve-forest status
  • Waste dumping from an adjacent landfill remains an active, unresolved pressure
  • A 2001-built road segment still crosses the marsh, pending replacement by an elevated bridge

Where it fits

Governance type
state forest department with judicial enforcement (National Green Tribunal)
Scale
metropolitan (South Chennai)
Income level
lower-middle-income (India)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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