Yet, in the name of development, convenience, and short-term gain, these wetlands are shrinking, choking, and disappearing before our eyes. What makes Kashmir’s wetlands so vital is not difficult to understand. In a region as ecologically sensitive and climatically vulnerable as Kashmir, wetlands are not luxuries. The crisis of wetlands in Kashmir is not only an environmental issue; it is a question of governance and public ethics. Dal Lake, the most iconic of Kashmir’s wetlands, has perhaps suffered the cruelest fate of all: it has been loved to death.