• Menar, a village in Udaipur district, is set to be notified as Rajasthan’s new wetland.
• This will pave the way for getting the Ramsar site status for this rural heartland of the Mewar region.
• The two lakes in Menar – the Brahma and Dhandh – play host to a large number of migratory birds in the winter season every year.
• More than 150 species of local and migratory birds inhabit the two lakes in the winter season.
• They include greater flamingo, white-tailed lapwing, pelican, marsh harrier, bar headed goose, common teal, greenshank, pintail, wagtail, green sandpiper and red-wattled lapwing.
• Notification of Menar as a wetland will recognise its role in the storage of sediment and nutrients and enable the local authorities to maintain the Brahma and Dhandh lakes.
• With the status of wetland, the two lakes will be strengthened for increasing vegetation of aquatic plants and protecting biodiversity.
• At present, Rajasthan has two wetlands recognised as Ramsar sites – Keoladeo Ghana in Bharatpur district and Sambhar Salt Lake in Jaipur district.

WETLAND :

• 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.
• The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an international treaty for “the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands”.
• It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands.
• It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran where it was signed on 2^nd of February 1971.
• The 2^nd of February each year is World Wetlands Day.
• When a country accedes to the Convention, it must designate at least one wetland as a Wetland of International Importance.
• The inclusion of a “Ramsar Site” in the List embodies the government’s commitment to take the steps necessary to ensure that its ecological character is maintained.
• As of May 2022, there are 49 Ramsar sites in India.

Model Question

Q. Which of the following sites are not recognised as Ramsar sites in India?

1. Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary
2. Sambhar Salt Lake
3. Haiderpur Wetland
4. Keoladeo Ghana

Select the correct answer using the code given below :

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 4 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) None of the above

Answer : D

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