These 3 Indian cities have been nominated for Wetland cities accreditation.

Three city nominations have been given by India for the Wetland City Accreditation System of the Ramsar Convention, viz. Indore, Bhopal, and Udaipur.

What makes the moment even more special is the fact that these three are the very first cities of India for which such nominations have been submitted.

Bhupendra Yadav, the Environment Minister, expressed on the platform X, formerly Twitter, that this is going to offer an opportunity for cities valuing their wetlands to actually attain international recognition along with positive branding opportunities to showcase robust positive relations with wetlands. The environment minister also appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to conservation.

Delighted to announce the nomination of India's first three cities – Indore, Bhopal, and Udaipur – submitted to @RamsarConv for its prestigious voluntary Wetland City Accreditation scheme. The scheme aims to promote conservation and wise use of urban and peri-urban wetlands as… pic.twitter.com/l7hOFsotP0

— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) January 4, 2024

What is the Wetland City Accreditation System?

It was in the year 2015 at the time of the COP12 when the Ramsar Convention nodded for a voluntary Wetland City Accreditation System.

The aim of the accreditation scheme is to encourage conservation, along with wise use of peri-urban and urban wetlands. It also promotes sustainable socio-economic merits for local populations.

ALSO READ: Important Geographical Facts about Wetlands of the World

A bit about the Ramsar Convention 

The Ramsar Convention was signed in the year 1971 as a convention on wetlands in Ramsar, a city in Iran. In the 1960s, the negotiations for the convention began by various countries and non governmental organizations. The negotiations centered around conservation of wetlands along with their resources. After a lot of negotations, the convention came into force in the year 1975. There are 75 Ramsar Sites in India that are listen under the Ramsar Convention.

The mission of the Ramsar Convention is to conserve all wetlands. Its aim is to use all wetlands wisely via international and local actions as a contribution in the direction of attaining sustainable development all over the globe.

The purpose of the Ramsar Convention is to make a wise use of all wetlands, appoint appropriate wetlands under the Ramsar List in order to effeciently manage those wetlands, and to bring international cooperation over shared species, transboundary wetlands, and shared wetland systems.

There are over 172 countries that are contracting parties to the Convention.

ALSO READ: GK Quiz on Ramsar Wetland Convention 1971: 4 New sites from India added to the list

Finally, understanding wetlands

The Ramsar Convention defines wetlands as regions of peatland, fen, marsh, or water, whether temporary or permanent, artificial or natural, having water that is flowing or static, fresh or not, or brackish, including regions of marine water, the depth of which does not exceed six meters at low tides. 

Some key examples of wetlands are estuaries, peatlands, coastal regions, lakes, marine regions, marshes, human-made wetlands, groundwater, shrimp ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and rivers.

ALSO READ: What are man-made Wetlands? Know the process, benefits here

ALSO READ: Explained: What is United Nations Genocide Convention?