World Wetlands Day | 03 Feb 2020

World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on the 2^nd of February. This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar.
The theme for 2020 is ‘Wetlands and Biodiversity’.
It was first celebrated in 1997.

Wetlands are ecosystems saturated with water, either seasonally or permanently. They include mangroves, marshes, rivers, lakes, deltas, floodplains and flooded forests, rice-fields, coral reefs, marine areas no deeper than 6 metres at low tide, as well as human-made wetlands such as waste-water treatment ponds and reservoirs.
Though they cover only around 6% of the Earth’s land surface, 40% of all plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands.

Wetlands are a critical part of our natural environment. They mitigate floods, protect coastlines and build community resilience to disasters, reduce the impacts of floods, absorb pollutants and improve water quality.
Wetlands are critical to human and planet life. More than 1 billion people depend on them for a living and 40% of the world’s species live and breed in wetlands.
They are a vital source for food, raw materials, genetic resources for medicines, and hydropower.
30% of land-based carbon is stored in peatland.
They play an important role in transport, tourism and the cultural and spiritual well-being of people.
Many wetlands are areas of natural beauty and many are important to Aboriginal people.

As per the IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services)’s global assessment wetlands are the most threatened ecosystem.
Wetlands are disappearing 3 times faster than forests due to human activities and global warming.
According to UNESCO, the threat to wetlands will have an adverse impact on 40% of the world’s flora and fauna that live or breed in wetlands.
Major threats: Agriculture, development, pollution and climate change.

IPBES

IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body established to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.
It was established in Panama City (US), in April 2012.
It is not a United Nations body.

Recently, the Ramsar Convention declared 10 wetlands from India as Ramsar sites taking the total number of Ramsar Sites in the country to 37.
- Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines of the convention.
- There are currently over 2,300 Ramsar Sites around the world.
India has over 7 lakh wetlands, covering 4.5% of the country’s area, yet none of the wetlands has been notified under domestic laws.
Wetlands are regulated under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.
The 2010 version of the Rules provided for a Central Wetland Regulatory Authority, but new Rules of 2017 replaced it with state-level bodies and created a National Wetland Committee, which functions in an advisory role.
- The newer regulations removed some items from the definition of “wetlands” including backwaters, lagoons, creeks, and estuaries.
- Under the 2017 regulations process to identify the wetlands has been delegated to the States.