Youth groups march in Chennai demanding protection of wetlands

CHENNAI: About 30 youth organisations from across Chennai held a 'March for Marshlands' on Saturday (July 25), demanding protection of the city's wetlands and action against their alleged destruction.

The march comes amid a wave of youth-led protests across the country over concerns related to corruption, education and the future of young Indians.

According to the organisers, the same generation that refuses to accept the loss of its educational opportunities is unwilling to stand by as ecosystems that determine the quality of life for future generations are destroyed.

One of the organisers, art activist Benisha B M, said the proposed Mamallan Reservoir had become a key environmental test for the ruling TVK government.

The organisers claimed that months after coming to power, the government had neither paused the project for an independent scientific review nor addressed concerns raised by ecologists, fishers and coastal scientists.

Instead, they alleged that work on the project had been expedited despite concerns that it would convert a living tidal marsh into a freshwater reservoir, while the blocking of the Buckingham Canal had disrupted the flow of tidal seawater that sustains the marsh's ecology.

"The Mamallan Reservoir will tell us whether TVK truly stands for change or whether change was only an election slogan. If the government continues with this project despite mounting scientific and public concerns, it will have chosen to own, rather than merely inherit, one of the most environmentally destructive projects in Tamil Nadu," she said.

"The Mamallan project is part of a wider pattern of environmental injustice visible across Chennai. The Ennore-Pulicat wetlands continue to be sacrificed in the name of industrialisation, Pallikaranai Marsh in the name of commercialisation, and now the Mamallan wetlands in the name of climate resilience and drinking water security," said Prashanth J, a wetland researcher.

"Fishing communities, Irulars, Dalits and other marginalised groups bear the environmental and economic costs, while the benefits flow elsewhere," he added.

"When governments repeatedly ask the poorest communities to surrender their lands, livelihoods, health and futures for projects that primarily benefit the powerful, people are justified in asking whether this is modern casteism dressed up as development," said environmental activist Raju.

"Our generation has inherited shrinking opportunities, worsening climate risks and disappearing commons. We refuse to stand by while our future is negotiated away. The fight for Chennai's marshlands is a fight for a liveable future," said climate activist Subashree.