Four more wetlands of India get Ramsar tag taking tally to 89

New Delhi: Ahead of the World Wetlands Day, India added four more wetlands to the Ramsar Convention sites, taking the total number of such globally recognised wetlands in the country to 89.

The four new sites in the list are: Sakkarakottai Bird Sanctuary, Therthangal Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, Khecheopalri wetland in Sikkim, and Udhwa Lake in Jharkhand.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said, “As the global community is gearing to celebrate World Wetlands Day, India has reasons to rejoice”.

He added this addition to take our tally to 89 – yet another example of how ‘Prakriti’ and ‘Pragati’ march ahead together under the visionary leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi ji”.

With this, Sikkim and Jharkhand have added their first Ramsar sites with the new additions in the list, while Tamil Nadu has become the state with the maximum number of such Ramsar sites (20) in India.

India has added 47 wetlands in ramsar sites in the last three years taking the total tally to 89.

Globally, there are 2,529 such designated wetlands. India has the highest number of such Ramsar wetlands in Asia and third highest in the world after the UK (176) and Mexico (144).

The Convention was adopted in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar.

It provides a framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources across its 172-member countries including India.