Head To These 7 Wetlands In India Before They Disappear

According to the Ramsar List, India has 37 wetland sites

A darter (snake-bird) in Keoladeo Ghana National Park

World Wetlands Day marks the date of adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2,1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

What is a wetland
According to The Ramsar Convention, &ldquowetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.&rdquo Fish ponds, rice paddies, depollution and stabilisation ponds, and saltpans are human-made wetlands.

World Wetlands Day 2020
The theme for World Wetlands Day this year is &lsquoWetlands and Biodiversity&rsquo. According to United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP), &lsquothe 2020 theme for World Wetlands Day is an opportunity to highlight wetland biodiversity, its status, why it matters and to promote actions to reverse its loss.&rsquoThe Ramsar list identifies 37 sites in India as wetlands, with 10 of them being added recently. They cover a total of 1,067,939 hectares in the country.

Though wetlands cover only around 6 per cent of the Earth&rsquos land surface, 40 per cent of all plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands. According to UNEP, wetlands are disappearing three times faster than forests due to human activities and global heating. This World Wetlands Day, we bring you 7 wetlands in India that you should visit before they are gone.

CHANDRA TAAL WETLAND, Himachal Pradesh