Wetlands of India Portal launched

• Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, launched the ‘Wetlands of India’ portal on October 2, 2021.
• The portal has been launched as part of the Iconic Week of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav of the Ministry from October 4-10, 2021.
• The portal will be a single point for accessing all sorts of information relating to the wetlands.

Wetlands

• Wetlands are areas of land where water covers the soil – all year or just at certain times of the year. They include:

1. Swamps, marshes
2. Lakes, lagoons
3. Saltmarshes, mudflats
4. Mangroves, coral reefs
5. Bogs, fens, and peatlands.

About the portal

• The web portal, http://indianwetlands.in, provides details on the wetlands of the country.
• It is a dynamic system for processing information and making it available to the stakeholders in an efficient and accessible manner.
• Furthermore, the portal also hosts capacity-building material, data repository, videos, and related information for students.
• On the portal, each State and UT has a dashboard, through which it can access information of wetlands in their administration.
• The portal aims to engage citizens. Currently, citizens can register themselves and upload wetland-related pictures across different themes.
• It also allows them the facility to take a pledge to become Wetland Mitra and indicate their State/UT and areas of interest.
• The initiative would help the respective States and UT administration in contacting the person for various programs and initiatives related to wetland conservation.

Wetland Status in India

• India nearly has 4.6% of its land as wetlands that cover an area of 15.26 million hectares.
• Further, there are 42 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 1.08 million hectares.
• However, as per the Ramsar Convention on wetlands report, the wetlands are disappearing three times faster than forests, with 35% of the wetlands lost from 1970-2015.
• It is an alarming situation, demanding urgent attention as 40% of the world’s plant and animal species breed in wetlands.
• The wetlands are also vital feeding and breeding grounds for migratory birds.

Ramsar Convention

• It is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
• The Convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.
• Since then, almost 90% of UN member states have become “Contracting Parties” and committed to the Convention’s three pillars:

1. Work towards the wise use of all their wetlands.
2. Designate suitable wetlands for the list of Wetlands International Importance and ensure their effective management.
3. Cooperate internationally on transboundary wetlands, shared wetland systems and shared species.