Context:

Recently, India has increased its tally of Ramsar sites (Wetlands of International Importance) to 80 from existing 75 by designating five more wetlands, three from Karnataka and two from Tamil Nadu as Ramsar sites.

Five More New Ramsar Sites in India

• With the addition of five new Ramsar sites in India, the total area covered under Ramsar sites is now 1.33 million ha which is an increase of 5,523.87 ha from existing area (of 1.327 million ha. Tamil Nadu continues to have the maximum number of Ramsar Sites (16 sites) followed by Uttar Pradesh (10 sites). 

About Newly Designated Ramsar Sites in India

• Ankasamudra Bird Conservation Reserve: It is a human made Village Irrigation Tank in Karnataka. 
  • It supports more than 1% of the biogeographic population of Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala) and Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus).
• Aghanashini Estuary: It is formed at the confluence of Aghanashini River with the Arabian sea in Karnataka and supports traditional fish farming in the estuarine rice fields (locally known as Gazni rice fields) and over 1% of the biogeographic population of 15 waterbird species.
• Magadi Kere Conservation Reserve: It is a human-made wetland in Karnataka. 
  • It harbors two vulnerable species, Common pochard (Aythya ferina) and River tern (Sterna aurantia) and four near-threatened species, namely Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster), Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus), Woolly- necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus) and Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala). 
  • It is one of the largest wintering grounds for the Bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) in Southern India and is a designated Important Bird Area (IBA).
• Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary: It is one of the largest inland wetlands of Tamil Nadu.
  • Fauna: Bar headed Goose, Pin-tailed duck, Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Common Pochard, Eurasian Wigeon, Common teal and Cotton teal.
• The Longwood Shola Reserve Forest: It is situated in Tamil Nadu and these forested wetlands serve as habitats for the globally endangered Black-chinned Nilgiri Laughing thrush (Strophocincla cachinnans), Nilgiri Blue Robin (Myiomela major), and vulnerable Nilgiri Wood-pigeon (Columba elphinstonii). 

Ramsar Site & Ramsar Convention

• Establishment: A Ramsar site is a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention (also known as the ‘Convention on Wetlands’), an intergovernmental environmental treaty established by UNESCO in 1971, and named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed that year.
• Identification: Ramsar recognition is the identification of wetlands which are of international importance, especially if they provide habitat to waterfowl (about 180 species of birds).
• First Ramsar Site in India: Chilika Lake in Orissa and Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan 
• Largest Ramsar Site in India: Sundarbans in West Bengal 

About Wetlands Sites

• A Saturated Ecosystem: A wetland is a place in which the land is covered by water (salt, fresh, or somewhere in between) either seasonally or permanently. It functions as its own distinct ecosystem.
• Consists Of: They include mangroves, marshes, rivers, lakes, deltas, floodplains and flooded forests, rice-fields, coral reefs, marine areas no deeper than 6 meters at low tide, as well as human-made wetlands such as waste-water treatment ponds and reservoirs.
• Contribution: They cover only around 6% of the Earth’s land surface, but about 40% of all plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands.
• Significance of Wetlands: 
  • It helps in stabilizing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide.
  • It reduces the risk of disasters such as floods.
  • It helps in sequestration of carbon as it stores carbon rather than releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
  • It has cultural and tourism significance.

News Source: PIB