2 Haryana sites added to Ramsar list as wetlands of international importance

Haryana Geography and Environment

09-Aug-21

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Four more Indian sites - two each from Haryana and Gujarat - have been recognised as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, taking the number of such sites in the country to 46.
For the first time, two wetlands in Haryana - Sultanpur National Park in Gurugram and Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary in Jhajjar - have been included in the Ramsar list.
The aim of the Ramsar list is "to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits".
Thol and Wadhwana from Gujarat have also made the cut for Ramsar recognition.
Haryana's Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary is a human-made freshwater wetland. It is also the largest in Haryana. Over 250 bird species use the sanctuary throughout the year as a resting site. The site supports more than 10 globally threatened species, including the endangered Egyptian Vulture, Steppe Eagle, Pallas's Fish Eagle, and Black-bellied Tern.
The Sultanpur National Park in Haryana supports more than 220 species of resident, winter migratory and local migratory waterbirds at critical stages of their life cycles. More than 10 of these are globally threatened, including the critically endangered sociable lapwing, and the endangered Egyptian Vulture, Saker Falcon, Pallas's Fish Eagle and Black-bellied Tern.
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands. It is named after the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the Caspian Sea, where the treaty was signed on February 2, 1971.
The 46 Ramsar sites in India include the Chilika Lake in Odisha, Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, Harike Lake in Punjab, Loktak Lake in Manipur and Wular Lake in Jammu and Kashmir.