Wonder! After 30 years the show of lotus flowers in Lake Wular returns (rekindling hope in Kashmir)

After more than thirty years of absence, the lotus flowers returned to blossom in the Wular lake, in the heart of the Kashmir valley. This fresh water basin, among the greatest in Asia, was famous not only for its landscape beauty, but also because it supported local communities thanks to the collection of Nadru, the edible stem of the lotus, considered a delicacy in traditional Kashmira cuisine.

In the 90s, however, a series of floods had held the Silet backdrop, suffocating plants and drastically reducing biodiversity. In a few years the surface of the lake has contracted over half, transforming itself into a degraded and even used area as a landfill.

The rebirth thanks to the reclamation

The turning point came in 2020, when the Wular Conservation and Management Authority (Wucma) started an ambitious environmental recovery project. Millions of cubic meters of sediments were removed and over two million willow trees, which favored the accumulation of debris.

In this way it was possible to restore the original depth of the lake and improve the flow of the Jhelum river. The result is visible today: the lotus flowers were reappeared and with them the hope of a more solid economy for families who had always lived in fishing and collection of natural products.

A tradition that is reborn

The return of Nadru does not only have an economic, but also cultural value. For generations, in fact, these stems have been the protagonists of the typical Wazwan dishes, the traditional Kashmir banquet. With their disappearance, many recipes had been forgotten. Today, however, chefs and families are recovering those flavors “of the grandmothers”, a symbol of memory and collective identity.

An important message to defend the environment

According to experts, the rebirth of the lotus is the tangible sign that ecological restoration interventions can bring back to life not only ecosystems, but also the links between people and the territory. Lake Wular is in fact a fundamental habitat for migratory birds and a key element of the environmental resilience of the region. Flowering after three decades represents a concrete example of how landscape care can regenerate biodiversity, local economies and cultural traditions.

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