Ramsar Convention
What is Ramsar Convention?
The Ramsar Convention or Wetland Convention is an international treaty that promotes the
conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on
Wetlands.
• The Ramsar Convention came to effect in 1975 after being signed in 1971.
• International and local action was encouraged to put a step in the right direction of
sustainable development.
• The late 1960s saw the foundation of the convention by Eskandar Firouz, former
environment minister of Iran, Luc Hoffmann of Tour du Valat research station in the
Camargue in France, and Geoffrey Matthews of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at
Slimbridge.
• The conference adopted the terms of the agreement that was held in the Iranian
Caspian Sea resort of Ramsar on 2 February 1971. The convention has turned 50 in
2021.
3 Pillars of Ramsar Convention
There are three fundamental principles that go behind the purpose of the Ramsar Convention:
• Encouraging proper and wise use of the wetlands: These sites are rich hubs of
biodiversity and future sites of sustainable development. Their use needs to be
controlled and judicious.
• Listening of Wetlands of International Importance: This convention identifies and
designates suitable wetlands under the Ramsar List for their effective management.
• Promotion of international cooperation: The convention aims to facilitate cooperation on
an international scale over the transboundary wetlands and shared wetland systems.
Wetland Convention- What are Wetlands?
Coming to the basics, wetlands are ecosystems that are seasonally or permanently saturated
with water. This ecosystem has significant biodiversity. It grows mangroves. It has marshes,
rivers, lakes, deltas, floodplains, flooded forests, rice fields, coral reefs, and marine areas no
deeper than 6 meters at low tide, as well as human-made wetlands such as waste-water
treatment ponds and reservoirs.
While wetlands comprise to be only 6% of the total Earth’s land surface, it houses and breeds
nearly 40% of all flora and fauna. This makes wetlands extremely important for the
sustenance of a healthy ecological cycle.
Ramsar Convention in India
Recently, a few Ramsar sites have been added to the Wetland Convention. Note the latest
news about
• Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bokhara Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh
was recently declared as Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance on the occasion
of World Wetland day 2022 (2nd January 2022). The announcement happened at
Sultanpur National Park, a Ramsar site in Haryana.
• India has proposed 26 sites under the wetland convention which shall make the total 75
sites as the nation observes its 75th Independence year.
• The proposed new sites include Thane Creek from Maharashtra, Nanda Lake from Goa,
12 sites from Tamil Nadu, 4 in Odisha, and 3 in Madhya Pradesh among others.
• The 50th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention in 2021 saw the establishment of the
Centre for Wetland Conservation & Management, the first in the country. It is under the
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), at the National Centre
for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) in Chennai.
Ramsar Convention Sites in India
Wetlands of International Importance are called Ramsar Sites. Below mentioned is the latest list
of ramsar sites in India
S No Ramsar Sites in India State – Location
1 Tso Kar Wetland Complex Ladakh
2 Keoladeo National Park Rajasthan
3 Wular lake Jammu & Kashmir
4 Surinsar- Mansar lakes Jammu & Kashmir
5 Hokera Wetland Jammu & Kashmir
6 Chilika Lake Odisha
7 Sasthamkotta lake Kerala
8 Sambhar lake Rajasthan
9 Sultanpur National Park Haryana
10 Nandur Madhameshwar Maharashtra
11 Saman Bird Sanctuary Uttar Pradesh
12 Chandra Taal Himachal Pradesh
13 Lonar Lake Maharashtra
14 Rudrasagar Lake Tripura
15 Nangal Wildlife Sanctuary Punjab
16 Bokhara Wildlife Sanctuary Uttar Pradesh
17 Tsomoriri Ladakh
18 Beas Conservation Reserve Punjab
19 Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary Gujarat
20 Kolleru lake Andhra Pradesh
21 Deepor Beel Assam
22 Parvati Agra Bird Sanctuary Uttar Pradesh
23 Bhoj Wetlands Madhya Pradesh
24 Sandi Bird Sanctuary Uttar Pradesh
25 Asan Barrage Uttarakhand
26 Sarsai Nawar Jheel Uttar Pradesh
27 Haiderpur Wetland Uttar Pradesh
28 Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary Haryana
29 Harike Wetlands Punjab
30 Kanjli Wetland Punjab
31 Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary Uttar Pradesh
32 Sunderban Wetland West Bengal
33 Loktak lake Manipur
34 East Kolkata Wetlands West Bengal
35 Renuka lake Himachal Pradesh
36 Ashtamudi Wetland Kerala
37 Vembanad Kol Wetland Kerala
38 Wadhvana Wetland Gujarat
39 Sur Sarovar Uttar Pradesh
40 Bhitarkanika Mangroves Odisha
41 Keshopur-Miani Community Reserve Punjab
Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary Tamil Nadu
42
43 Ropar Wetland Punjab
44 Samaspur Bird Sanctuary Uttar Pradesh
45 Pong Dam lake Himachal Pradesh
46 Nalsarovar Bird sanctuary Gujarat
47 Thol Lake Wildlife Sanctuary Gujarat
48 Upper Ganga river Uttar Pradesh
49 Kanwar Lake or Kabal Taal Bihar
Need for Ramsar Convention
To understand the need for Wetland Convention, it is important to understand How are
Wetlands under threat?
• The most common threat to wetlands remains to be the fast-paced urbanization of our
capitalistic world. Urban wetlands are constantly under immense developmental
pressure to provide for residential, industrial, and commercial needs.
• Unplanned urban and agricultural progress has caused the wetlands to be drained and
transformed. This causes substantial ecological as well as economic losses in the longer
run.
• The Green Revolution of the 1970s saw the transformation o wetlands into paddy fields.
To meet the irrigation needs, large reservoirs, canals, and dams were built. This
severely depleted the hydrology of the surrounding wetlands.
• The drain of the hydrology of wetlands is not limited to the era of the Green Revolution,
as canals and diversions are regularly constructed to hydrate the lower arid regions. This
alters the drainage patterns and causes noticeable degradation. Keoladeo Ghana
Sanctuary, Loktak Lake, Chilika Lake, and Vembanad Kole are some names that have
been impacted negatively because of this practice.
• Over withdrawal of groundwater has led us to salinization.
• Other obvious contributors are deforestation and pollution. Removal of vegetation
causes erosion of soil and siltation while the infamous unrestricted sewage dumping in
freshwaters have threatened the quality of wetlands.
• The rise in demand for seafood has added to the economic incentives of wetlands
causing the development of mangrove forests into pisciculture and aquaculture ponds.
• Climate change is real and responsible for the increased air temperature, scanty
precipitation, increased frequency of natural calamities, and the hike in the atmospheric
CO2 concentration.
Global Initiatives for Wetland Conservation
The Ramsar Convention is one such initiative taken on a global scale for wetland preservation.
• Montreux Record is maintained as a part of the Ramsar List. It is a register of wetland
sites where changes in ecology have been observed or can occur as a result of
technological progress or ill effects of human interference.
• There are two wetlands in India that are in the Montreux Record, namely Keoladeo
National Park in Rajasthan and Loktak Lake in Manipur. Chilka Lake in Odisha was
there earlier but was later removed.
• World Wetland Day is celebrated on the 2nd of February every year to raise awareness
about the importance and endangerment of wetlands.
• A global campaign called Cities4Forests works closely with cities across the globe to
connect with forests. They emphasize the importance of wetlands and their multiple
benefits in an attempt to help combat climate change and protect biodiversity in cities.
Wetland Conservation in India
Other conversation initiatives taken in India apart from Ramsar Convention are as follows
• National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA)
• Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017
• National Wetland Inventory and Assessment was carried out by ISRO. They used
remote sensing satellites from 2006 to 2011 and were able to map around two lakh
wetlands in India.
Facts about Ramsar Convention
Owing to the competitive nature of the UPSC Exams, the depth of knowledge that is to be
possessed by students needs to be dealt with tactically. Go through this bulleted list of
important facts about the Ramsar Convention:
• Ramsar Convention is the only internationally recognized treaty that centers itself around
a specific ecosystem.
• Initially, it was started with the idea of waterbird habitat conservation. Over time, it has
become all-encompassing about wetland conservation issues.
• The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl
Habitat is its official name.
• The Ramsar Convention covers three important subjects:
• There are now 171 contracting parties. They are expected o designate suitable
wetlands in their territory under the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International
Importance.
• The designated wetlands are to be taken care of and judiciously used.
• Shared wetlands by two or more territories are to be used after due consultation.
• Ramsar Convention is not a regulatory regime. It was modified under the Paris Protocol
in 1982 and by the Regina Amendments in 1987.
• World Wetlands Day was first celebrated in 1997 and has been ever since celebrated
annually on February 2nd to mark its anniversary.
• This conference happens every three years. They come with a new plan of action with
its set goals every six years. The latest one was formulated in the 12th convention for
the years 2016-2024 and is the 4th plan of their tenure.
• It has 6 partners that are international organizations, namely
• Birdlife International
• IUCN
• Wetlands International
• WWF
• International Water Management Institute
• Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
