New Ramsar sites

New Ramsar sites

Subject – Environment

Context:  Four more wetlands from India get recognition from the Ramsar Secretariat as Ramsar sites. These sites are Thol and Wadhwana from Gujarat and Sultanpur and Bhindawas from Haryana. Informing this in a tweet message, Union Environment Minister

Concept:

• The Ramsar Convention signed on 2nd February, 1971, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accord signed by member 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.
• The number of Ramsar sites in India are 46 and the surface area covered by these sites is now 1,083,322 hectares.

Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary,

• It is the largest wetland in Haryana is a human-made freshwater wetland.
• Its first Ramsar sites of Haryana.
• Over 250 bird species use the sanctuary throughout the year as a resting and roosting site.
• The site supports more than ten globally threatened species including the endangered Egyptian Vulture, Steppe Eagle, Pallas’s Fish Eagle, and Black-bellied Tern.

Sultanpur National Park

• It is also from Haryana supports more than 220 species of resident, winter migratory and local migratory water birds at critical stages of their life cycles.
• After Nalsarovar which was declared in 2012, these are the other ramsar sites declared.
• More than ten of these are globally threatened, including the critically endangered sociable lapwing, and the endangered Egyptian Vulture, Saker Falcon, Pallas’s Fish Eagle and Black-bellied Tern.

Thol Lake Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is from Gujarat lies on the Central Asian Flyway and more than 320 bird species can be found here.
• The wetland supports more 30 threatened waterbird species, such as the critically endangered White-rumped Vulture and Sociable Lapwingand the vulnerable Sarus Crane, Common Pochard and Lesser White-fronted Goose.

Wadhvana Wetland

• It is also from Gujarat is internationally important for its birdlife as it provides wintering ground to migratory water birds, including over 80 species that migrate on the Central Asian Flyway.
• They include some threatened or near-threatened species such as the endangered Pallas’s fish-Eagle, the vulnerable Common Pochard, and the near-threatened Dalmatian Pelican, Grey-headed Fish-eagle and Ferruginous Duck.