The Kabartal wetlands in Bihar’s Begusarai district has been identified as a wetland of international significance. Kabartal wetlands will be the first wetlands from Bihar to be included in the Ramsar Convention, as per the Union Environment Ministry.
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
The Ramsar Convention is titled after the Iranian city of Ramsar which is on the Caspian Sea.
This treaty was signed on February 2, 1971, in the city of Ramsar.
Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar sharing about this achievement tweeted, “Pleased to inform that Bihar has got its first Ramsar site. Kabartal in Begusarai becomes wetland of International importance. It is an important wetland of the Central Asian Flyway for the population of migratory birds & biodiversity. With this now India has 39 Ramsar sites.”
Including the Kabartal wetlands, India now has 39 Ramsar sites. The other Ramsar sites are Chilika Lake in Odisha, Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, Harike Lake in Punjab, Loktak Lake in Manipur and Wular Lake in Jammu and Kashmir.
Also Read: India’s longest motorable suspension bridge over Tehri Lake, inaugurated in Uttarakhand
Ramsar Convention is the only global treaty that focuses specifically on wetlands and its conservation. Presently, there are 170 nations as signatories to the Ramsar Convention. A contracting party agrees to nominate at least one wetland in its territory to the List of Wetlands of International Importance based on the listed criteria.
By 2018, over 2323 wetland areas were recorded on the Ramsar List.