Wetlands

Story hook

It is 2 February 1971. In the small Iranian Caspian-coast city of Ramsar, delegates from 18 countries sign the world's first international treaty devoted to a single ecosystem: the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat. The treaty defines wetlands extraordinarily broadly: "areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres."

In other words: lakes, ponds, rivers, swamps, mangroves, paddy fields, salt marshes, coral reefs, and even the muddy edges of glaciers — all wetlands.

India became a contracting party in 1982, designating two sites — Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan). For 30 years, that number crept up slowly to 26 by 2012. Then, between 2022 and 2024, in two years of accelerated designations, India added 39 sites, taking its total to 85 Ramsar sites as of 2024, the largest network of Ramsar sites in Asia and third globally after the UK and Mexico.

But Ramsar designation is not protection by itself. The Montreux Record — a separate list maintained by the Ramsar Secretariat — flags sites undergoing or threatened with significant ecological change. India had two sites on the Montreux Record: Keoladeo (placed 1990) and Loktak (placed 1993). Keoladeo was removed in 2002 after restoration; Loktak remains.

This file is about how wetlands work, why they are disproportionately valuable, India's Ramsar geography, and the regulatory framework that often fails them.

Why this matters for UPSC

Wetlands is a 3-question Prelims topic almost every year (Ramsar site counts, Montreux Record, specific sites, types of wetlands). Mains asks analytical questions on wetland services, urban wetlands, and the 2017 Wetland Rules. Interview boards probe trade-offs — Loktak hydropower vs ecosystem. With 85+ sites now, candidates need both the headline number and a working knowledge of the 5-7 most-tested individual wetlands.