About:

• World Wetlands Day is observed every year on February 2nd all over the world.
  
  
• It is celebrated to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and our planet.
  
  
• This day also marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar.
  
  
• This year’s theme of World Wetlands Day is “Wetlands Action for People and Nature”, which highlights the importance of actions to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands for humans and planetary health.
  
  

New Ramsar sites

• Two new Ramsar sites (Wetlands of International Importance), Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in U.P were also announced on the occasion by Shri Yadav.
  
  
• India now has a network of 49 Ramsar sites covering an area of 10,93,636 hectares, the highest in South Asia. Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in UP provides a safe wintering and staging ground for a large number of species of the Central Asian Flyway.
  
  
• Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat is a coastal wetland with rich avifaunal diversity providing a safe habitat to endangered and vulnerable species.
  
  

National Wetland Decadal Change Atlas

• On the occasion, "National Wetland Decadal Change Atlas” prepared by the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad was also released highlighting the changes which have happened in Wetlands across the country in the past decade.
  
  
• The original Atlas was released by SAC in 2011 and has over the years been used extensively by all the State Governments also in their planning processes.