India Designates Five New Ramsar Sites
Source : PIB
GS II : Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate
What is discussed under India Designates Five New Ramsar Sites ?
- About the sites
- Why it is important ?
- Biggest wetland Community
- Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Why in News ?
India has designated five new wetlands of International importance.
Key Facts
About the sites
-
- India has designated five new wetlands of International importance.
- The latest included sites are
- Karikili Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu
- Pallikaranai
Marsh Reserve Forest in Tamil Nadu - Pichavaram Mangrove in Tamil Nadu
- Pala wetland in Mizoram
- Wetland Sakhya Sagar in Madhya Pradesh
- The Ramsar sites have been increased from 49 to 54 Ramsar sites.
- World Wetlands Day on 2 February, India added Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh to the list of Ramsar sites in India.
Why it is important ?
-
- Wetlands are disappearing three times faster than forests with 35% of the wetlands lost from 1970-2015 according to the Ramsar Convention on wetlands report
- The alarming situation demands urgent attention as 40% of the world’s plant and animal species breed in wetlands.
- The wetlands are also vital feeding and breeding grounds for migratory birds.
Biggest wetland Community
- The countries with most sites are the United Kingdom with 175 and Mexico with 142.
- The country with the greatest area of listed wetlands is Bolivia having148,000 square kilometres
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
- An international treaty, aims at the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands.
- Convention named after the city of Ramsar in Iran.
- Also known as the Convention on Wetlands
- This was signed in 1971.
- February 2 is World Wetlands Day (WWD)marking the convention’s adoption on 2 February 1971.
- Aims to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997.
- The list of wetlands of international importance covering over 2.1 million square kilometres.
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