India Adds 10 Wetlands to List of Ramsar Sites

On Wednesday, the Federal Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced that India has added 10 wetlands to the Ramsar sites list.

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Designation of these sites would help in conservation and management of wetlands and wise use of their resources. India is one of the contracting parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971.

India signed it on 1st Feb 1982. So far 64 wetlands covering an area of 1,250,361 hectares have been designated as Ramsar Sites of International Importance from India, till date.

The six new designated sites in Tamil Nadu are Koonthankulam Bird Sanctuary, Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, Vembannur Wetland Complex, Vellode Bird Sanctuary, Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary and Udhayamarthandapuram Bird Sanctuary.

The remaining four designated sites are Satkosia Gorge in Odisha, Nanda Lake in Goa, Ranganathituu BS in Karnataka and Sirpur wetland in Madhya Pradesh. The area of these 10 wetlands is 151,842.41 hectares. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has expressed happiness for getting the Ramsar recognition to the six sites in the state.

"This takes the Ramsar recognition tally of Tamil Nadu to 10. This international recognition is a matter of great pride and goes hand in hand with Tamil Nadu Wetland Mission. I congratulate Tamil Nadu forest department on this sterling achievement," Stalin said.

Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar convention, which is an intergovernmental environmental treaty that provides for national action and international cooperation regarding the conservation of wetlands. It identifies wetlands of international importance, especially those providing waterfowl habitat.