Government of India Designates 5 New Ramsar Sites, taking total number to 54
- Five new wetlands of International importance have been designated in India.
- With this, the total Ramsar sites in the country have been increased from 49 to 54 Ramsar sites.
- The three newly designated wetlands are:
- Karikili Bird Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu
- Pallikaranai Marsh Reserve Forest, Tamil Nadu
- Pichavaram Mangrove, Tamil Nadu
- Pala wetland, Mizoram
- Sakhya Sagar, Madhya Pradesh.
What are Ramsar Sites
- A Ramsar Site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. The name Ramsar comes from Ramsar City of Iran, where this treaty was signed.
- The Convention on Wetlands is also known as the Ramsar Convention. It is an intergovernmental environmental treaty established in 1971 by UNESCO and came into force in 1975.
- Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines of the convention.
- 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.