World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on February 2 to raise awareness about the need for the unique ecosystem. It is also celebrated as the anniversary of the Convention on Wetlands, which was adopted as an international treaty in 1971, according to the World Wetlands Day website. The theme for 2022 is ‘Wetlands Action for People and Nature’, which is a call to invest financial, political and human capital to save the wetlands from disappearing and help restore those that have been degraded. Pictured here is the Pichavaram mangrove forests in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, which is a Ramsar site. Photo: istock

According to the latest 'National Wetland Decadal Change Atlas’ prepared and released by the Space Applications Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation in Ahmedabad, India has had gains. It says that India has gained as much as 14,823 wetlands from 2006-07 till 2017-18 and has seen as many as 1,342 wetlands disappear in the same time. With a visible increase from the previous decade, it says the increase has come from inland man-made and coastal man-made wetlands. In this photo, the Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary in Haryana, which received the Ramsar tag in 2021. Source: IANS, Photo: istock 

As part of the treaty signed in Ramsar, Iran in 1971, the UNESCO established the Ramsar Convention, also called The Convention on Wetlands, which came into effect in 1975. This allows countries to give designated wetlands the Ramsar tag, if they fit nine different criteria set by the convention. As of Februuary 2022, India has as many as 49 Ramsar sites. Here is the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary National Park in Rajasthan, which was designated a Ramsar site in 1981. Photo: istock

On World Wetlands Day 2022, two new wetlands were added to India’s list of Ramsar sites. The tag was given to Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier in January, Tamil Nadu government had pushed for the tag for 13 wetlands, and among them the Pallikaranai marshland in Chennai and the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere reserve in Ramanathapuram are in the advanced stages to get it. Visible in this photo is the Pallikaranai marshland in Chennai. Photo: istock 

In India, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of wetlands at 11.6 per cent, followed closely by Maharashtra at 11.2 per cent, according to the National Wetland Decadal Change Atlas. It has also stated that the Ganga River basin has one fourth of the wetlands among all the river basins in the country, in number and wetland area, which are over 56,000 and 3.75 million hectares respectively. In this photo, find the magroves at Sundarban tiger reserve. Source: IANS. Photo: istock