Ten more wetlands from India get the Ramsar site tag

Union Environment Minister has announced that India has added 10 more wetlands to sites protected by the Ramsar Convention.

The New Ramsar Sites

1. Nandur Madhameshwar: Maharashtra ( Maharashtra gets its first Ramsar site)
2. Keshopur-Miani-Punjab
3. Beas Conservation Reserve- Punjab
4. Nangal – Punjab
5. Nawabganj-Uttar Pradesh
6. Parvati Agra- Uttar Pradesh
7. Saman- Uttar Pradesh
8. Samaspur- Uttar Pradesh
9. Sandi- Uttar Pradesh
10. Sarsai Nawar- Uttar Pradesh

About Ramsar Convention

• The Ramsar Convention signed on February 2, 1971 in Iran, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accord signed by members countries to preserve the ecological character of their wetlands of international importance.
• The aim of the Ramsar list is to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits.
• Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines of the convention.
• India is a member of this agreement since 1982.
• Most of the wetlands of India are directly or indirectly connected to major river systems like Ganga, Kaveri, Krishna, Godavari and Tapti.
• There are currently 37 Ramsar wetlands in India.
• The estimated area of ​​wetlands in India is 4.1 million hectares (excluding irrigated agricultural land, rivers and streams), of which 1.5 million hectares are natural and 2.6 million hectares man-made.
• The wetland constitutes 4.7 percent of the total geographical area.
• Currently there are 158 contracting parties in this conference.

PAPER-III