World Wetlands Day

Context

World Wetlands Day is observed every year on 2 February to raise global awareness about the important role of wetlands for our planet.

About

• On the occasion of the World Wetland Day, The Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced the establishment of a Centre for Wetland Conservation and Management (CWCM).
  • The Centre will help in building partnership and networks with relevant national and international agencies.
    • It would serve as a knowledge hub and enable exchange between State/ UT Wetland Authorities, wetland users, managers, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

About World Wetlands Day

• The year 2021 commemorates the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, celebrated annually as World Wetlands Day.
• On this day, environmentalists and community protectors come together to celebrate their love for nature. This is done through seminars, exhibitions, and special on-ground campaigns.
• This year’s theme for World Wetlands Day ‘Wetlands and Water,’ highlights the importance of wetlands as a source of freshwater and encourages action to restore them and stop their loss.

What are the Wetlands?

• Wetlands are land areas, which are seasonally or permanently flooded with water.
• The Ramsar Convention’s definition for wetlands includes “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which, at low tides, does not exceed six meters”.
• Fishponds, rice paddies, and saltpans are human-made wetlands.

Importance of Wetlands:

• They protect our shores from wave action, reduce the impacts of floods, absorb pollutants and improve water quality, groundwater recharge, and climate change mitigation.
• They provide habitat for animals and plants and many contain a wide diversity of life.
• Wetlands provide an important range of environmental, social and economic services.

Wetlands in India

• India has nearly 4.6% of its land as wetlands, covering an area of 15.26 million hectares and has 42 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites).
• Wetlands are regulated under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.
  •  The 2010 version of the Rules provided for a Central Wetland Regulatory Authority but the 2017 Rules replaced it with state-level bodies and created a National Wetland Committee, which functions in an advisory role.
    • The newer regulations removed some items from the definition of “wetlands” including backwaters, lagoon, creeks, and estuaries.

About the Ramsar Convention:

• The Ramsar Convention signed on February 2, 1971, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accord signed by members countries to preserve the ecological character of their wetlands of international importance.
• Aim-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.

Source: India Today