Two wetlands from Bihar get Ramsar tag

• Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced that two wetlands from Bihar — Gokul Jalashaya in Buxar and Udaipur Jheel in West Champaran — have been added to the list of Ramsar Sites.

• With this, India now has 93 sites in the list.

Gokul Jalashay

The site is an oxbow lake located on the southern edge of the Ganga River in Buxar district. The flood pulses of the Ganga influence land use and land cover in the wetland, exposing marshes and agricultural areas during the dry months and increasing inundation after monsoons. During flooding events, the wetland acts as a buffer for nearby villages. In total, over 50 bird species are found in the Site and its surroundings; in the pre-monsoon season, exposed marshland and shrubs provide food and breeding habitats. Local communities rely on the wetland for fishing, farming and irrigation.

Udaipur Jheel

The Site is an oxbow lake bordered to the north and west by the dense forest of Udaipur Wildlife Sanctuary. The lake surrounds a village in West Champaran district. Over 280 plant species are found in the wetland, including Alysicarpus roxburghianus, a perennial herb endemic to India. The wetland is an important wintering ground for around 35 migratory bird species, including the vulnerable common pochard (Aythya ferina). Jamun trees (Syzygium cumini) line the wetland and their fallen fruits are believed to purify the water. The wetland faces threats from illegal fishing and intensive agriculture, particularly the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

What is the Ramsar Convention?

• The Ramsar List is the world’s largest network of protected areas. There are over 2,500 Ramsar Sites, covering more than 2.5 million square kilometres.

• The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty signed by 173 countries to protect wetlands. 

• It is named after the city in Iran where it was signed, and it began with 18 countries in 1971.

• The convention is one of the oldest inter-governmental accords for preserving the ecological character of wetlands. Also known as the Convention on Wetlands, it aims to develop a global network of wetlands for the conservation of biological diversity and for sustaining human life.

• It is one of the largest international agreements, after the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 196 countries) and the UN climate agreement (UNFCCC, 197 countries).

• India ratified the convention on February 1, 1982.

• The first Site was the Cobourg Peninsula in Australia, designated in 1974. The largest Sites are Rio Negro in Brazil (120,000 sq km), and Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Queen Maud Gulf in Canada. These Sites each cover over 60,000 sq km.

• The countries with the most Sites are the United Kingdom with 176 and Mexico with 144. Brazil has the largest area with 267,000 square km under the Convention protection; Bolivia, Canada, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Russian Federation have also each designated over 100,000 square km.

What are wetlands?

• Wetlands are ecosystems where water is the primary factor controlling the environment and the associated plant and animal life. 

• Wetlands are land areas that are saturated or flooded with water either permanently or seasonally. Inland wetlands include marshes, ponds, lakes, fens, rivers, floodplains and swamps. 

• Coastal wetlands include saltwater marshes, estuaries, mangroves, lagoons and even coral reefs. Fish ponds, rice paddies and saltpans are man-made wetlands.

• Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.

• They are, in fact, a major source of water and our main supply of freshwater comes from an array of wetlands which help soak rainfall and recharge groundwater.

• Though they cover only around 6 per cent of the Earth’s land surface, 40 per cent of all plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands. 

• Wetland biodiversity matters for our health, our food supply, for tourism and for jobs. Wetlands are vital for humans, for other ecosystems and for our climate, providing essential ecosystem services such as water regulation, including flood control and water purification. 

• More than a billion people across the world depend on wetlands for their livelihoods – that’s about one in eight people on Earth.

• Every year, February 2 is observed as World Wetlands Day to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for our planet. This day also marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in Ramsar, Iran.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)