Madhya Pradesh: Indore’s Sirpur lake finds place in Ramsar sites list

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh’s another lake has found a place in the list of Ramsar site within 10 days of Shivpuri’s Sakhya Sagar lake being listed as one, as per Ministry of Environment.

On Wednesday, 10 more Indian sites including Indore’s Sirpur lake from Madhya Pradesh were declared as Ramsar sites.

With this, the tally of wetlands listed as Ramsar sites in India has gone up to 64 with India and China now having most number of such sites of international importance, as per Union environment ministry.

As far as MP is concerned, Bhopal’s upper lake happens to be the first Ramsar sites declared two decades back. With Shivpuri’s lake and now Indore’s Sirpur lake, MP has three such sites.

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance is an international treaty for conservation of wetlands sites. It is named after Iran’s Ramsar city where the convention was signed in 1971.

The Ramsar list aims at "developing and maintaining an international network of wetlands, which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life, through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits".

The 10 new sites - six in Tamil Nadu and one each in Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha - cover an area of 12,50,361 hectares in the country.

"Designation of these sites would help in conservation and management of wetlands and wise use of their resources. Now, India stands at first position jointly with China," the ministry said in a statement.

Apart from Sirpur lake the new Indian wetlands which have bagged the coveted tag are Koonthankulam Bird Sanctuary, Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, Vembannur Wetland Complex, Vellode Bird Sanctuary, Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary and Udhayamarthandapuram Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu; Satkosia Gorge in Odisha; Nanda Lake in Goa and Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary in Karnataka.

India is aiming at getting a Ramsar tag for 75 of its wetlands on the 75th year of Independence, according to officials.