The Union Government has designated five new wetlands of international importance, taking the total number of Ramsar sites in the country to 54.
These five sites are Karikili Bird Sanctuary,Pallikaranai Marsh Reserve Forest, Pichavaram Mangrove all three are located in Tamil Nadu followed by Sakhya Sagar located in Madhya Pradesh, Pala Wetland located in Mizoram.
According to the report, one more wetlands added in Northeast site namely Pala wetland located in Mizoram is the fourth Ramsar site from Northeast . The lake is a major component of the Palak Wildlife Sanctuary.
Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted: “The emphasis PM Shri @narendramodi ji has put on environmental protection and conservation has led to a marked improvement in how India treats its wetlands. Delighted to inform that 5 more Indian wetlands have got Ramsar recognition as wetlands of international importance.”he tweeted.
Know about the Ramsar Sites:
Ramsar Convention is formally known as Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. It was signed on 2 February 1971 thus this day is celebrated as World’s Wetland day. This treaty is not a legal binding treaty and is not a part of UN & UNESCO conventions.
To become a member of this international agreement a country has to get its at least one site registered as Wetland in the Ramsar Wetland list.
Among many countries UK has maximum number of Ramsar sites with a total number of 175. Bolivia is a central South America county which has the largest area with 148,000 square km under Ramsar sites.
