New Ramsar Sites of India

Biodiversity and the Ecosystem are a significant part of our environment and there is always a need to preserve them from exploitation. So in the year 1971, a global Treaty was signed at Ramsar, Iran that was focused to promote the conservation of biodiversity specifically the "Wetlands". The Treaty was named 'Ramsar Convention' and 170 countries have become a part of it to date. The Ramsar Convention focused on Wetlands and has the main objective of providing a framework to conserve and use them wisely. The "Wetlands" are a region where water is the primary factor that controls the environment and influences plant and animal life. India has a major contribution to the total Ramsar Sites of the world and two new Ramsar Sites were announced recently by Sri Bhupendra Yadav (The Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate) on 2 February 2022 was "World Wetlands Day".

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had declared that: "Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary" and "Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary" are also Ramsar Site now and thus, acquire the status of being a 'wetland of international importance.

a) Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary: The Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary, found in Uttar Pradesh (UP), is a wetland that provides winter safe and conductive sites for a large number of Central Asian Birds Species.

b) Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary: The Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Gujarat which is a 'coastal wetland'. It is accompanied by a wide variety of birds which provides a safe habitat to endangered and vulnerable species.

These sites contribute to a total of 1 million 93 thousand hectares of area in India, which is the largest when compared to other South Asian countries. The "National Wetland Decadel Change Atlas" is the organization responsible to highlight the changes in Wetlands across the country and was formed by the "Space Application Centre" (SAC). These new Ramsar sites in India had contributed to promoting the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. Therefore, they possess International Level importance and took the number of Indian Ramsar sites to 49.