Save Wetlands Campaign

• The "Save Wetlands Campaign" was introduced by the Union Minister for Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change in Goa.
• This campaign is set up as a "whole of society" effort to conserve wetlands, promoting positive social change at all societal levels and integrating all social classes.
• The campaign's goal: The campaign will involve educating people on the importance of wetlands over the course of the following year, expanding the coverage of wetland Mitras, and creating citizen alliances for wetlands conservation.

About World Wetland Day:

• Every year on February 2nd, people around the world celebrate World Wetlands Day to remember the year the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was signed. Since joining the Convention in 1982, India has designated 75 wetlands in 23 states and the Union Territories as Ramsar sites.
• Wetland Restoration is the World Wetlands Day theme for 2023, highlighting the critical need to give wetland restoration first priority. It is an appeal to the next generation to take proactive measures protecting wetlands by devoting resources—financial, human, and political—to preventing their extinction and revitalising and restoring those that have already been damaged.
• Ramsar Sites are important ecological networks for preserving the world's biological diversity and promoting human welfare, with India having the largest network in Asia.
• With the goal of creating "a healthy and effectively managed network of 75 wetlands of national and international significance that support water and food security, a buffer from floods, droughts, cyclones, and other extreme events.

About wetland:

• Wetlands are regions where water plays a major role in regulating the environment and the plant and animal life that goes along with it. They manifest themselves where the land is submerged in water or where the water table is at or close to the surface of the ground.
• "Regions of marsh, fen, peatland, or water, whether natural or manmade, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish, or salt, including areas of sea water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres," is how the Ramsar Convention defines wetlands.

Importance:

• Wetlands contribute to the world’s cycles of water, nitrogen, and sulphur. They also sequester carbon. Instead of releasing carbon dioxide into the sky as carbon monoxide, wetlands store carbon within their plant communities and soil.
• Fighting Climate Change: Wetlands serve as buffers, lowering the danger of natural disasters like floods.
• Millions of migrating birds come to wetlands, making them a haven for them.
• Wetlands also have a strong relationship to Indian culture and traditions, which is important for both tourism and culture.

Worldwide Initiatives:

• Ramsar Convention: Through local, national, and international cooperation, the convention seeks to conserve and promote the sensible use of all wetlands. In 1975, it became law.
• Montreux Record: It is a register of Ramsar wetland sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference.
• World Wetlands Day is observed annually on February 2nd all across the world.

Indian Initiatives Statutory Protection:

• The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, govern the wetlands in India. The Central Wetland Regulatory Authority was established under the 2010 Rules, but the 2017 Rules replaced it with state-level organisations and established the National Wetland Committee, which serves as an advisory body.
• Action Plan of MoEFCC: The National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems, Mangroves and Coral Reefs, and Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats are just a few of the programmes that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) supports the implementation of management action plans for over 250 wetlands.

Sites of Ramsar in India:

• In the 75th year of its independence, India has added 11 more wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites, bringing the total to 75, which now span an area of 13,26,677 ha.
• The state with the most Ramsar sites is Tamil Nadu with 14 sites, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 10 sites.