The 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was recently held in Dubai. It brought into focus one of the most pressing environment issues around the world– deteriorating wetlands. The meeting adapted 25 resolutions to stimulate wetland conservation with the theme ‘Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future’.

Wetlands are land areas covered by water. Ever since the Ramsar Convention in 1975, many countries across the globe, including India, initiated numerous conservation efforts to protect the wetlands and the people and animals dependent on them.

However, the situation has not improved significantly since then, at least in India.

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It has been 18 years, for instance, since the Siberian Crane came to India. There is no official announcement, but it is pretty widely known that they will never return. The chief cause of this loss is wetland drainage at Bharatpur, their conventional habitat. And this is at a time when the Keoladeo Ghana National Park here is a Ramsar Wetland Site as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The resulting impact on tourism also affects the local economy.

The heartening news is that in September this year, India launched a five-year plan to conserve its wetlands as part of the National Action Plan for Conservation of Migratory Birds and their Habitats (2018-2023), a multi-state action plan for safeguarding and boosting the population of migratory birds in the country. If followed through diligently, this plan should help restore at least some of India’s best known wetland biodiversity hotspots such as Chilika Lake, Sundarbans and Nal Sarovar, among others.

Last month, the National Green Tribunal directed an oversight committee to monitor and restore wetlands in Delhi’s Dwarka neighbourhood. Such regional and micro-level efforts are the only way to save the wetlands of our country.