World Wetlands Day was celebrated on February 2 across the world. In India main celebration took place at Deepor Beel Ramsar wetland in Assam. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in collaboration with Department of Forests, Assam government organised the national-level celebration of World Wetlands Day (WWD), 2018 at Deepor Beel, a Ramsar Site in Guwahati.
- Wetlands play a vital role for the cities and for the humanity. They serve as a source of drinking water; reduce flooding and the vegetation of wetlands filters domestic and industrial waste and improves water quality.
- An exhibition of posters on “World Wetlands Day” was also put up by National Museum of Natural History (Delhi), under the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.
. Theme: The 2018 theme of this day, ‘Wetlands for a sustainable urban future’ marks the role of healthy wetlands play in making cities and towns liveable, through their role in groundwater recharge, buffering floods, filtering wastewater, enhancing landscape aesthetics, providing income generation opportunities and ultimately supporting well-being.
About World Wetlands Day: Every year, February 2 is celebrated as World Wetlands Day, to mark the date of adoption of Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
What is Wetland: A wetland is a place or a area where the land is covered by water, either salt, fresh or somewhere in between. It includes marshes and ponds, the edge of a lake or ocean, the delta at the mouth of a river, low-lying areas that frequently flood.
About Ramsar Convention: The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. The Convention was adopted in 1971 at the Iranian City of Ramsar.
India and Ramsar Convention:-India is a party to the Convention since 1982, and committed to the Ramsar approach of wise use of wetlands. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, is the nodal Ministry for wetlands conservation. It has been supporting the State Governments/ Union Territories since 1985, in design and implementation of Management Action Plans for conservation and management of wetlands including Ramsar sites. Financial and technical assistance has been provided to State Governments for implementation of Management Action Plans for over 140 wetlands of India. According to National Disaster Management Authority, over 40 hectares which means 12% of land in India is prone to floods and river erosion. Wetlands in India account for 4.7% of the total geographical area.
