Impact of land use change on the urban wetlands of the Imphal Valley in northeast India: an analysis of dying habitats of the endangered Manipuri pony-the original ponies of modern polo.

Since c. 3100 BC, the modern game of polo was played as 'Sagol Kangjei' in the ancient Kingdom of Manipur, India. Today, 'Sagol' or Manipur pony is an 'Endangered' pony breed. As per FAO population estimate, the breed has 994 individuals. The rampant destruction of natural habitats, mainly the urban wetlands in the Imphal Valley, has caused severe decline in the population of the indigenous breed. Therefore, as a part of conservation research, detailed encroachment status and impact of land use change on water quality of the urban wetlands in the Imphal Valley, i.e. Lamphel and Heingang pats, were assessed during 2022-2023. The land use/land cover analysis of the last three decades, viz. between 1988 and 2023, showed that the urban wetlands have lost 26.38 and 64.36% of its areas to human encroachment in the form of built-up or agricultural and pisciculture farms. The wetlands size got reduced by 132.3 ha for Lamphel pat and 76.8 ha for Heingang pat, respectively. Moreover, vegetation cover of the wetlands got reduced by 50.73% for Lamphel pat and 12.01% for Heingang pat, thereby forcing the pony breed to move from natural habitats. As a result, majority of pony populations today are found sheltering on busy roads of the Imphal urban region. Furthermore, the land use change has caused severe deterioration of wetland water quality. The Water Quality Index (WQI) for most of the sampling locations have WQI values in poor and unsuitable category, which unfortunately is the only source of water for the pony population in their habitat. Moreover, wetland vegetation or food plants of pony are exposed to high sodium percentage, sodium adsorption ratio, magnesium hazard and Kelly's ratio stress, which is injurious. As such, the endangered pony's habitats, i.e. urban wetlands, need effective long-term conservation and management plan that will restore both the ecosystem and the threatened pony breed populations.