India has 27,403 wetlands in total, and close to 4000 of them are coastal wetlands. we are loosing wetlands at the rate of ----- every year *
Answers
The 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was recently held in Dubai. It brought into focus one of the most pressing environment issues around the world– deteriorating wetlands. The meeting adapted 25 resolutions to stimulate wetland conservation with the theme ‘Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future’.
Wetlands are land areas covered by water. Ever since the Ramsar Convention in 1975, many countries across the globe, including India, initiated numerous conservation efforts to protect the wetlands and the people and animals dependent on them.
However, the situation has not improved significantly since then, at least in India.
India has 27,403 wetlands in total, and close to 4000 of them are coastal wetlands. We are losing wetlands at the rate of 2-3% each year. The drivers of this decline are overfishing, agriculture, deforestation, introduced species, climate change, water drainage, land encroachment and urban development.
Wetlands, such as mangroves, marshes, paddy fields, swamps and more, serve a multitude of important ecological functions and act as a vital link between land and water. There are a number of reasons why we need to act immediately to protect our precious wetlands globally.