World Wetlands Day: India announces two more Ramsar sites, total tally rises to 49

On the occasion of World Wetlands Day, on Wednesday, India announced two new Ramsar sites (Wetlands of International Importance), Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. India now has a network of 49 Ramsar sites covering an area of 10,93,636 hectares, which is the highest in South Asia.

New Delhi: On the occasion of World Wetlands Day, on Wednesday, India announced two new Ramsar sites (Wetlands of International Importance), Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh.

India now has a network of 49 Ramsar sites covering an area of 10,93,636 hectares, which is the highest in South Asia provides a safe wintering and staging ground for a large number of species of the Central Asian Flyway while Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary is a coastal wetland with rich avifaunal diversity providing a safe habitat to endangered and vulnerable species.

While making this announcement, the Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav tweeted, "India has established the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia. Happy to inform you that two more wetlands, Khijadiya Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in UP have been added to this prestigious list. Our tally now stands at 49."

He further added, "Today is International wetland day. There are more than two lakhs of small ponds in India but there are also a few that needs to be preserved. India has 52 national tiger forests in India. There are two blue-tag beaches in India. We have added two Ramsar sites today."

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who was also present in the event, said, "There are 18,000 ponds in Haryana, now at least 6,000 ponds are overflowing and are full of dirt. We have formed Pond authority to take care of it. This authority aims to preserve and maintain 1,900 ponds."

On the occasion, "National Wetland Decadal Change Atlas” prepared by the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad has also highlighted the changes which have happened in wetlands across the country in the past decade.

The original Atlas was released by SAC in 2011 and has over the years been used extensively by all the State governments and also in their planning processes. World Wetlands Day is observed every year to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and to mark the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. This year's theme of World Wetlands Day is "Wetlands Action for People and Nature".