Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the emphasis Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put on environmental protection and conservation has led to a paradigm shift in how India treats its wetlands.

On the eve of World Wetlands Day 2024, India has announced an increase of its tally of Ramsar sites (Wetlands of International Importance) from the existing 75 to 80.

Five more wetlands have been designated as Ramsar sites, the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said.

All the five sites are in the south of the Vindhyas  with three of these sites — Ankasamudra Bird Conservation Reserve, Aghanashini Estuary and Magadi Kere Conservation Reserve —located in Karnataka and two — Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary and Longwood Shola Reserve Forest —located in Tamil Nadu.

Minister Bhupender Yadav said the emphasis Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put on environmental protection and conservation has led to a paradigm shift in how India treats its wetlands. He said this reflects in the Amrit Dharohar initiative envisioned by Prime Minister Modi.

The Union Minister congratulated the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka whose wetlands have made it to the list of Ramsar Sites. In a post, Bhupender Yadav said that he met Dr Musonda Mumba, the Secretary General of Ramsar Convention who handed over the certificates of the five sites.

With the addition of these five wetlands to List of Wetlands of International Importance, the total area covered under Ramsar sites is now 1.33 million ha which is an increase of 5,523.87 ha from existing area (of 1.327 million ha. Tamil Nadu continues to have maximum number of Ramsar Sites (16 sites) followed by Uttar Pradesh (10 sites). 

India is one of the Contracting Parties to Ramsar Convention, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971.

World Wetlands Day (WWD) is celebrated across the globe to commemorate the adoption of this international agreement on wetlands on 2nd February 1971.

India ratified this Convention on 1st February 1982. Earlier in August 2022, India achieved a significant milestone of taking the total number of Ramsar Sites to 75 during the 75th Year of Independence.

A press release from the PIB says that “due to a significant policy push from the Government of India, the number of Ramsar sites has increased from 26 to 80 in the last ten years, of which 38 have been added in the last three years alone.”

Image: National Portal of India