World Wetlands Day

Why in the news?

• World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on 2 February.
• The main objective of this day is to explain the importance of wetlands and raise awareness towards their conservation.
• World Wetlands Day was first celebrated in the year 1997.
• Wetlands play an important role in maintaining environmental balance, dealing with climate change and protecting biodiversity.
• Theme of World Wetlands Day 2025: Protecting Wetlands for our Common Future

What is the Ramsar Convention?

• It is an international agreement for the conservation of global wetlands. 
• It was adopted on 2 February 1971 in a conference held at Ramsar, Iran, located on the coast of the Caspian Sea.
• It came into force in India on 1 February 1982.

Montreux Record:

• The Montreux Record is a list of wetland sites that are of international importance and whose ecology has changed, is changing, or is likely to change as a result of technological development, pollution or other human intervention.
• It is included as part of the Ramsar List.
• India's Loktak Lake and Keoladeo National Park are included in the Montreux Record
• Odisha's Chilika Lake was also included in the Montreux Record in the year 1993
• It was removed from the record in the year 2002.

What is a wetland?

• Land rich in water is called wetland. According to the Ramsar Convention, any significant area where waterlogging occurs for about eight months in a year is called a wetland.
• These areas are rich in biodiversity.
• It is divided into 19 categories in India, including mangroves, swamps, rivers, lakes, deltas, floodplains and flood forests.

Different types of wetlands

• Wetlands occur in many forms, including rivers, swamps, marshes, mangroves, mudflats, ponds, swamps, billabongs, lagoons, lakes and floodplains.
• Most large wetland areas often include a combination of different types of freshwater systems.

What are Ramsar sites?

• Ramsar site is a wetland.
• It is designated for international importance under the Ramsar Convention. 

Ramsar sites in India:

89 Ramsar sites have been identified in India, the major ones among them are:-

• Chilika Lake (Odisha) – Asia’s largest saltwater lake
• Loktak Lake (Manipur) – World’s only floating lake
• Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) – Famous bird sanctuary
• Sudarshanakhali (West Bengal) – Part of Sundarbans
• Point Calimere (Tamil Nadu) – Marine wetland