New Ramsar site

02.02.2024

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Why in the  news?

Recently, the Union Environment Minister said that five more Indian wetlands have been added to the global list of wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

Key Points

• This year, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Madhya Pradesh, is organizing the national World Wetlands Day event at Sirpur Lake, Indore.
• The theme of WWD-2024 is ‘Wetlands and Human Wellbeing’.

About the New Ramsar site:

• Of the five wetlands added to the Ramsar list, Magadi Kere Conservation Reserve, Ankasamudra Bird Conservation Reserve, and Aghanashini Estuary are in Karnataka and Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary and Longwood Shola Reserve Forest are in Tamil Nadu.
• Tamil Nadu continues to have the maximum number of Ramsar Sites (16 sites) followed by Uttar Pradesh (10 sites).

List of newly designated Ramsar Sites

Ankasamudra Bird Conservation Reserve

• It is a man-made Village Irrigation Tank built centuries back.
• It is an ecologically important wetland and rich in biodiversity.
• It supports more than 1% of the biogeographic population of Painted Stork and Black-headed Ibis.

Aghanashini Estuary

• It is formed at the confluence of the Aghanashini River with the Arabian Sea.
• The brackish water of the Estuary provides diverse ecosystem services including flood and erosion risk mitigation, biodiversity conservation and livelihood support.
• The wetland helps in traditional fish farming in the estuarine rice fields (locally known as Ghazni rice fields), bivalve shell collection and salt production.

Magadi Kere Conservation Reserve

• It is a man-made wetland which was constructed to store rainwater for irrigation purposes.
• The wetland harbours two vulnerable species, namely the Common pochard and River tern and four near-threatened species, namely the Oriental Darter Black-headed Ibis Woolly-necked Stork and Painted Stork
• It is also one of the largest wintering grounds for the Bar-headed goose.

Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary

• It is one of the largest inland wetlands of Tamil Nadu and is a significant source of groundwater recharge for the area.

The Longwood Shola Reserve Forest

• It derives its name from the Tamil word, "Solai", which means a ‘tropical rainforest’.
• The ‘Sholas’ are found in the upper reaches of the Nilgiris, Anamalais, Palni hills, Kalakadu, Mundanthurai and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
• These forested wetlands serve as habitats for the globally endangered Black-chinned Nilgiri Laughing thrush, Nilgiri Blue Robin and vulnerable Nilgiri Wood-pigeon.

                                             Source:PIB