Lonar Lake & Sur Sarovar listed under Ramsar Convention; Prakash Javadekar expresses joy

Maharashtra's Lonar lake and Sur Sarovar in Uttar Pradesh's Agra, also known as Keetham lake, have been added to a list of recognised sites under the Ramsar Convention. Following the two new additions to the list of sites of national importance under the treaty, Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Prakash Javadekar took to Twitter to express his happiness. The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. 

"Happy to note that India has added two more Ramsar sites. Lonar lake in Maharashtra, the only crater lake of the country, and Sur Sarovar, also known as Keetham lake, in Agra," read the tweet from Prakash Javadekar. 

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41 wetlands

With the two new additions to the list, India now has a total of 41 wetlands that are recognised as Ramsar sites which is the highest in South Asia. Earlier, for the first time in Bihar a wetland, Kabartal in Begusarai district gained international importance and recognition under the Ramsar Convention as per the Union Environment Ministry. Dehradun's Asan Conservation Reserve was the first Uttarakhand wetland to be added to the Ramsar Convention site lists in October 2020. 

Read | Lonar Lake In Maharashtra Chosen As `Ramsar Site'

In January 2020, a total of 10 wetlands in Indian gained recognition under the international treaty as 'Ramsar Sites' of international importance. The 10 new sites were Maharashtra's Nandur Madhameshwar, Punjab's Keshopur-Miani, Beas Conservation Reserve and Nangal as well as Uttar Pradesh's Nawabganj, Parvati Agra, Saman, Samaspur, Sandi and Sarsai Nawar. The other sites recognised under the Ramsar Convention in India are located in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

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Ramsar Convention

In the year 1971, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of Internation importance was signed in Iran's Ramsar city. This international treaty lists names of places that are chosen for conservation and tagged as 'Ramsar site'. Also known as the Convention of Wetlands, Ramsar Convention is one of the oldest inter-governmental agreement aimed at preserving the ecological character of wetlands. Another objective of this treaty is to create a global network of wetlands aimed at conserving biological diversity and to sustain human life. More than 170 countries are a part of the international treaty which has over 2,000 recognised sites that cover about 20 crore hectares. 

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(With inputs from PTI)