The Central government has embarked on a mission to promote tourism at ecologically-sensitive wetlands better known as Ramsar sites like Odisha’s Chilika lake and Haryana’s Sultanpur bird sanctuary. The focus would be to shift these fragile wetlands from high-value tourism to nature tourism by directly supporting conservation action and letting local communities and economies take the lead.
A Ramsar site is a wetland designated to be of international importance under an environmental treaty signed in February 1971 at Ramsar, Iran under the auspices of UNESCO. Ramsar identifies wetlands of international importance, especially those providing waterfowl habitat. It provides for national action and international cooperation regarding the conservation of wetlands, and wise sustainable use of their resources.
India has 75 Ramsar sites. Odisha’s Chilka Lake and Bhitarkarnika Mangroves, West Bengal’s Sundarbans, Chitrangudi Bird Sancturary in Tamil Nadu are some of the well-known Ramsar sites in India.
