The poor condition of lakes in Bengaluru and subsequent revival efforts have been under scrutiny and public discourse for several years now.Jakkur Lake in north Bengaluru has received many accolades for creating and sustaining the rejuvenation and conservation initiative.The lake supports and provides livelihoods for 70 fishermen families and their role has been crucial to the success of the lake rejuvenation project.Jockim, a fisherman, and other members of his community rue the general attitude to keep local communities out of conservation plans and not recognise their contribution. Morning walkers, residents of nearby residential complexes, vouch for the beauty and serenity of Jakkur Lake in Bengaluru and completely endorse and support the rejuvenation of the fairly large water body in their area. Administration and local agencies are mighty proud of the project – which involved fencing, cleaning of sewage and garbage and aiding biodiversity. Environmentalists and naturalists are enthused by the arrival and staying of birds. However, this much-documented success story has a crucial stakeholder, that has played an integral part in the success story – the fishing community. Jockim is one of the leading members of the fishing community that depends on the lake for its livelihood and is also part of the conservation initiative. But it doesn’t stop at that. In fact, without the help, support and active participation of the community and without any major differences with other stakeholders, the management of the lake would have been impossible. Jakkur is one of the 51 lakes in the city, artificially created in the 16th century. It is a crucial urban wetland for Bengaluru, in the absence of any other waterbodies such as rivers or the sea. The lake supports and provides livelihoods for 70 fishing families and 30 cattle owners/grass cutters and their role has been crucial to the success of the lake rejuvenation project. The lake has been managed by a citizen’s group with Bengaluru’s municipal corporation (BBMP) since 2015. Prior to that, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had completed fencing and cleaning before handing it over. Jakkur Lake, one of the many urban wetlands in Bengaluru city, sustains biodiversity and livelihood of the fisherfolk. Map from Google Earth. Rejuvenating Jakkur Jakkur Lake, constructed over 200 years ago, had become a site for sewage and garbage dumping, in recent decades, like most of the other lakes in the city. In 2005, the BDA took up the project to rejuvenate a few lakes, Jakkur was one of them. They worked on it for from 2008 till about 2010-11. The BDA took charge of desilting, fencing and sewage treatment and completed the revival of the lake. Once most of the work was done by 2012, they handed over the lake to Bengaluru’s municipal corporation (BBMP) and the citizen’s group. Post the handover, the lake has been managed by the BBMP with citizen’s group Jalaposhan since 2015. The BBMP, as the custodian of the lake, has its various departments undertake different tasks of lake management such as sewage treatment, checking quality of water, water pollution, maintenance of biodiversity in the wetlands, construction of pathways and maintenance of bunds. The Fisheries department meanwhile, works with the fishing community for the formation of society, and monitoring of fishing, sales, cleaning of the lake, etc. Around 197 species of birds are found at the lake. These include pelicans, who have made Jakkur their home and no longer migrate. There are nests of peacocks as well, indicating that the flora and fauna are in healthy condition now. The fishermen fish upto 500 kg of fish on good days during the fishing season from the lake. The fishing community has been a proactive stakeholder among all the others. It is primarily responsible for the maintenance and conservation of water in the lake. Though the community’s livelihoods depend on it and hence it is invested in the lake’s upkeep, the people are also on board for eco-friendly practices and working as a multiple-stakeholder community to enable conversation of biodiversity and upkeep of the lake in the best possible way. For example, at the moment they are busy cleaning up the rampant growth of water hyacinth, which is detrimental to the overall health of the lake.