INDIA ADDS FIVE MORE RAMSAR SITES

India has added five more wetlands of international importance bringing the number of such sites in the country to 54 from the previous 49.

These include three wetlands:

• (Karikili Bird Sanctuary, Pallikaranai Marsh Reserve Forest and Pichavaram Mangrove) in Tamil Nadu,
• Mizoram (Pala wetland) and
• Madhya Pradesh (Sakhya Sagar),

In India Ramsar wetlands are spread over 11,000 sqkm and around 10% of the total wetland area in the country and across the 18 states.

The UK(175) and Mexico (142) smaller countries than India have the most Ramsar sites, whereas Bolivia span 1,48,000 sq km under the convention protection.

About the New Ramsar Sites Karikili bird sanctuary: the Karikili Bird Sanctuary is situated in the Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu. The sanctuary is spread over an area of 61.21 hectares and is just 10 km from the well-known Vedanthagal Bird Sanctuary. Palikaranai marsh reserve forest: Pallikaranai wetland is a freshwater marsh in the city of Chennai, India. It is situated adjacent to the Bay of Bengal, about 20 kilometres south of the city centre. Pichavaram mangrove: The Pichavaram mangrove Forest is one of the largest mangrove forests in India covering about 1100 hectares of area. It is separated from the Bay of Bengal by a sand bar. Sakhya Sagar: Sakhya Sagar Lake is located near Madhav National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Pala wetland: Pala wetland is located in the Siaha district, Mizoram. The wetland is situated about 6 km from the nearest village called Phura and falls under the Phura forest range of the Mara autonomous district council region. Spread across 1850 hectares, Pala is the largest natural wetland in the state of Mizoram.

About wetlands

• 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.
• It does not include river channels, human-made water bodies or tanks specifically constructed for drinking purposes and structures specifically constructed for aquaculture, salt production, recreation and irrigation purposes.
• Though they cover only around 6% of the Earth’s land surface, 40% of all plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands.

Significance of Wetlands

• Breeding Ground: Dozens of species of birds of Central Asia and Siberia migrate to warmer tropical regions, including India and equatorial regions to escape harsh winter in their breeding grounds in these wetlands.

According to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), 182 migratory waterbird species, including 29 globally threatened and near-threatened species, breed, and migrate in these wetlands.

• 40% of the world’s plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands, according to UNESCO.
• Thirty per cent of land-based carbon is stored in peatland;
• One billion people depend on wetlands for their livelihoods,
• Wetlands provide $47 trillion in essential ecosystem services annually, according to the Wetlands Day official website.
• Wetlands play a vital role in the survival of human life because of their ability to perform various functions like water purification, water storage, processing of carbon and other nutrients, and stabilization of the shoreline.

The major threat to wetlands:

• Urbanization: Wetlands near urban centres are under increasing developmental pressure for the residential, industrial and commercial facilities.
• Anthropogenic activity: Due to unplanned urban and agricultural development, industries, road construction, impoundment, resource extraction and dredge disposal, wetlands have been drained and transformed, causing substantial economic and ecological losses in the long term.
• Agriculture activities: Following the Green Revolution of the 1970s the vast stretches of wetlands have been converted to paddy fields. Even the Construction of a large number of reservoirs, canals and dams to provide for irrigation significantly change the hydrology of the associated wetlands.
• Deforestation: Removal of vegetation in the catchment leads to soil erosion and siltation.
• Pollution: Unrestricted dumping of sewage and toxic chemicals from industries has polluted many freshwater wetlands.
• Climate change: Increased air temperature, shifts in precipitation, increased frequency of storms, droughts, and floods; increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration; and sea level rise could also affect wetlands.

Issues in wetland conservation:

• Major regulatory bodies like the Central Wetland Regulatory Authority had limited impact as they only have advisory powers.
• Additionally, all existing laws ignore the participation of local communities in governing and monitoring wetlands which is most important for conserving the wetland.
• Further, cities are unable to cater to the water demand due to a policy vacuum as there is no well-defined ‘National Urban Water Policy’ to guide urban water management.
• The lack of awareness and knowledge of wetlands among people and their ecosystem services can be blamed for this widespread loss.

About Ramsar sites

• Ramsar sites are generally wetlands having International importance.
• The term Ramsar was coined when the International treaty for the Conservation and Sustainable use of Wetlands was signed in the city of Iran called Ramsar in 1971 by UNESCO which came into force in 1975.
• February 2 is celebrated as International Wetland Day as the Ramsar Convention was signed on February 2, 1971.
• The inclusion of a wetland in the list embodies the government’s commitment to take the steps necessary to ensure that its ecological character is maintained. The Convention includes various measures to respond to threats to the ecological character.
• There are currently over 2,300 Ramsar Sites around the world, covering over 2.1 million square km. The first Site under Ramsar was the Cobourg Peninsula in Australia, designated in 1974.
• The largest Ramsar wetland is Llanos de Moxos, located in the South American country of Bolivia. At more than 17 million acres, the wetland is roughly equal in size to the US state of North Dakota
• India has a total of 7,57,060 wetlands, covering 1.6 crore hectares or 4.5% of India’s area.

Global Wetland Conservation Initiatives:

• The Ramsar convention- explained above
• Montreux Record: The Montreux Record is a register of wetland sites on the list of Ramsar wetlands of international importance 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.

It is a voluntary mechanism to highlight specific wetlands of international importance that are facing immediate challenges.

It is maintained as part of the List of Ramsar wetlands of international importance.

Indian sites on the Montreux Record

• At present 2 Indian sites are listed under it:
  • Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan)
  • Loktak Lake (Keibul Lamjao National Park, Manipur)
• In 1993 Chilka lake, Orissa was also listed in Montreux’s record due to the problem of Siltation. But later in 2002, it was removed from the list as a problem tackled by govt actions.

• World Wetland Day: 2 February each year is World Wetlands Day to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and our planet.
• Cities4Forests Global Campaign: It works closely with cities around the world to connect with forests, and spread the importance of wetlands and their multiple benefits to help combat climate change and protect biodiversity in cities.

Conservation Efforts by India:

National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA):

• It is a centrally sponsored scheme namely, for the conservation and management of wetlands in the country on cost sharing basis between the Central Government and respective State/UT Governments.
• The scheme aims at holistic conservation and restoration of wetlands for achieving the desired water quality enhancement, besides improvement in biodiversity and ecosystems.
• It aims to promote mainstreaming of wetlands in developmental programming with States by supporting the formulation and implementation of integrated management plans, capacity development and research.

Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017:

• The 2010 version of the Rules provided for a Central Wetland Regulatory Authority; the 2017 Rules replace 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.

ISRO carried out the National Wetland Inventory and Assessment using remote sensing satellites from 2006 to 2011 and mapped around two lakh wetlands in India.

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CENTRAL RESERVE POLICE FORCE (CRPF)

July 27 is commemorated as Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) foundation day as India’s largest central armed police force came into existence on this day in 1939.

About CRPF

• It came into existence as Crown Representative’s Police on 27th July 1939
• It became the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on the enactment of the CRPF Act on 28th December 1949.

Formation:

It was constituted following the political unrest and the agitations in the then princely States of India in the backdrop of the Madras Resolution of the All-India Congress Committee in the year 1936.

Mission:

The mission of the CRPF shall be to enable the government to maintain the Rule of Law, Public Order, and Internal Security effectively and efficiently, Preserve National Integrity and Promote Social Harmony and Development by upholding the supremacy of the Constitution.

Vision:

• Mainly to control the Crowd, Riot control, Counter Militancy /Insurgency operations., Dealing with the Left-Wing Extremism, and Overall coordination of large-scale security arrangements, especially concerning elections in disturbed areas.
• Participating in UN Peace Keeping Mission as per Govt. policy.
• Rescue and Relief operations at the time of Natural Calamities and disasters.

Ministry: CRPF officially works under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Function:

• It essentially functions for all the states and union territories alike.
• The force's job is to maintain the law and order in the subcontinent and by the virtue of it, they combat insurgencies, act as rescue forces whenever required, etc.
• CRPF was the on-guard force at the Indo-Pak border until 1965 when the Border Security Force came into existence specifically for this purpose.
• CRPF is also deployed for international missions for the United Nations.
• The CRPF continues to step in whenever natural disasters or some unforeseen accidents happen.
• COBRA is a special operation unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) of India proficient in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare.

Capacity:

It is India’s largest central armed police force having around 246 battalions, and more than 30,000 personnel.

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FIRST ASIAN RECORD OF LIGHT MANTLED ALBATROSS

Asia’s first sighting of the Light Mantled Albatross, a species native to the Antarctic has been spotted on the Rameswaram coast.

The researchers feel a change in atmospheric pressure could have been among the reason for the albatross to land on an Indian shore.

About Albatross

• They have nasal tubes on the upper bill called naricorns, though with albatrosses these are on the sides of the upper mandible rather than the top.
• They also have a salt gland above the nasal passage which excretes a concentrated saline solution to maintain osmotic balance, due to the amount of seawater imbibed.
• The Light-mantled Albatross, with broad pelagic habits, maintains a circumpolar distribution in the Southern Ocean.
• It breeds mainly on several sub-Antarctic islands, such as Macquarie Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands (Australia), South Georgia Island (British Overseas Territory), Prince Edward Islands (South Africa), Iles Kerguelen and Iles Crozet (France), and Auckland, Campbell, and Antipodes Islands (New Zealand).
• The species forage over cold Antarctic waters as far south as the pack ice in summer.
• Light-mantled Albatross is listed as a 'Near Threatened' species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Reason for migration

• The changes in the wind pattern triggered by global warming are bringing strange birds to different regions.
• A lot of changes are happening in the wind pattern owing to the increase in atmospheric temperature is one of the main reasons for the migration of the species.
• Birds like albatross, which are known to be on the move, use the wind and save their energy during flights.
• Even slight changes in the temperature can cause drastic changes in the wind pattern and birds could land in far-away places that are not familiar to them.
• Threat: Potential predators on some breeding islands are giant petrels, feral cats, and rodents. At sea, they are threatened by bycatch in the longline fishery and through starvation by eating plastic marine debris.

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Modhera Sun Temple

The Ahmedabad Railway Station at Kalupur in Ahmedabad City will be developed on the theme of Modhera Sun Temple in the next five years.

About Modhera Sun Temple

• Modhera Sun Temple is located in Mehsana, neighbouring Ahmedabad district.
• Built-in the 11th century during the reign of Bhima I of the Chalukya dynasty in honour of the Sun God, it is one of the major tourist destinations in North Gujarat.
• Situated on the banks of Pushpavati River.
• It is surrounded by a terra-formed garden of flowering trees and songs of birds.
• Modhera Sun Temple is an excellent example of the medieval temple art and architecture of India.
• The temple complex has three components: Gudhamandapa, the shrine hall; Sabhamandapa, the assembly hall, and Kunda, the reservoir and built in the Chalukyas Style.

The remains of the Sun Temples at Modhera are relics of times gone by when reverence of the natural elements fire, air, earth, water, and sky were at their peak sharing space with myriad manifestations of Vedic gods.

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