Four new wetlands in India added to Ramsar list

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What is a wetland? 

• A wetland is an area of land that is either covered by water or saturated with water. 
• The water is often groundwater, seeping up from an aquifer or spring. A wetland’s water can also come from a nearby river or lake. Seawater can also create wetlands, especially in coastal areas that experience strong tides.
• A wetland is entirely covered by water for at least part of the year. The depth and duration of this seasonal flooding varies. Wetlands are transition zones. 
• Common names for wetlands include marshes, estuaries, mangroves, mudflats, mires, ponds, fens, swamps, deltas, coral reefs, billabongs, lagoons, shallow seas, bogs, lakes, and floodplains, to name just a few! 

Functions of Wetlands:

• Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, comparable to rain forests and coral reefs. 
• An immense variety of species of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish and mammals can be part of a wetland ecosystem. 
• Physical and chemical features such as climate, landscape shape (topology), geology and the movement and abundance of water help to determine the plants and animals that inhabit each wetland. 
• The complex, dynamic relationships among the organisms inhabiting the wetland environment are referred to as food webs.
• Wetlands can be thought of as “biological supermarkets.” They provide great volumes of food that attract many animal species. 
• These animals use wetlands for part of or all of their life-cycle. Dead plant leaves and stems break down in the water to form small particles of organic material called “detritus.” 
• This enriched material feeds many small aquatic insects, shellfish and small fish that are food for larger predatory fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals.
• The functions of a wetland and the values of these functions to human society depend on a complex set of relationships between the wetland and the other ecosystems in the watershed.
• Furthermore, scientists are beginning to realize that atmospheric maintenance may be an additional wetlands function. 
• Wetlands store carbon within their plant communities and soil instead of releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Thus, wetlands help to moderate global climate conditions.
• Wetlands not only support high concentrations of biodiversity, but also offer a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services like food, water, fiber, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, storm protection, erosion control, carbon storage and climate regulation.

What are the selection criteria for a wetland to be included in the Ramsar list? 

• Under the Ramsar Criteria, wetlands should be selected for the Ramsar List on account of their international significance in terms of the biodiversity and uniqueness of their ecology, botany, zoology, limnology or hydrology. 
• In addition, the Criteria indicates that in the first instance, wetlands of international importance to waterbirds at any season should be included on the Ramsar List.
• There are nine criteria for identifying Wetlands of International Importance:

Group A of the Criteria. Sites containing representative, rare or unique wetland types

• Criterion 1: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it contains a representative, rare, or unique example of a natural or near-natural wetland type found within the appropriate biogeographic region.

Group B of the Criteria. Sites of international importance for conserving biological diversity

Criteria based on species and ecological communities

• Criterion 2: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities.
• Criterion 3: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region.
• Criterion 4: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.

Specific criteria based on waterbirds

• Criterion 5: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.
• Criterion 6: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbird.

Specific criteria based on fish

• Criterion 7: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies, species or families, life-history stages, species interactions and/or populations that are representative of wetland benefits and/or values and thereby contributes to global biological diversity.
• Criterion 8: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.

Specific criteria based on other taxa

• Criterion 9: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of wetland-dependent non-avian animal species.

Brief History of Ramsar Convention: 

• The ‘Convention on Wetlands’ called the Ramsar Convention, is the oldest of the modern global intergovernmental environmental agreements. 
• The treaty was negotiated through the 1960s by countries and non – governmental organizations concerned about the increasing loss and degradation of wetland habitat for migratory waterbirds. 
• It was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975. 
• The intergovernmental treaty provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. 
• Wetlands are the only ecosystem to have a dedicated multilateral environmental agreement of their own, the Ramsar Convention. 
• Currently,  there are 171 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 2414 wetland sites, totaling over 254,543,972 ha.,  designated as Wetlands of International Importance.
• Under the “three pillars” of the Convention, the Contracting Parties commit to:
  • Wise Use: work towards the wise use of all their wetlands;
  • List of Wetlands of International Importance: designate suitable wetlands for the list of Wetlands of International Importance (the “Ramsar List”) and ensure their effective management;
  • International cooperation: cooperate internationally on transboundary wetlands, shared wetland systems and shared species.
• India became a party to Ramsar Convention in 1982 and so far, 46 wetlands covering 19 States & UTs have been designated as Ramsar sites.