Ramsar Wetlands of India

What is the Ramsar Convention, and where does India stand?

A “Ramsar Site” is a wetland officially recognised under this convention as being of genuine international importance. Here’s where India stands today:

• The Ramsar Convention was signed in the city of Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, as a treaty for wetland conservation.
• As of August 2026, India has 101 Ramsar Sites, the most of any country in Asia.
• Globally, only the United Kingdom and Mexico have more Ramsar Sites than India.
• India’s oldest Ramsar Sites are Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Rajasthan), both designated in 1981.

How does a wetland actually qualify?

Ramsar uses nine formal criteria to judge a wetland’s international importance. A site needs to meet just one to qualify:

• The criteria cover rarity, biodiversity value, and ecological function.
• One frequent route: supporting at least 1% of the global population of a single waterbird species or subspecies.
• Other criteria cover fish spawning grounds and fish migration paths.
• A 2005 addition extended the list beyond birds and fish, to other wetland-dependent animals too.

Which sites and states lead the list?

• Tamil Nadu leads with 20 Ramsar Sites, more than any other Indian state.
• The Sundarban Wetland (West Bengal), at ~4,230 sq km, is India’s largest single Ramsar Site by a wide margin.
• Ramsar status does not replace India’s own domestic protections; sites often already sit inside a National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, or Biosphere Reserve.
• Instead, it adds international recognition and commits India to sustainable use of the site’s resources.

What does a “troubled” Ramsar site look like?

The Montreux Record flags Ramsar sites whose ecological character is under real threat, a watch-list sitting within the wider Ramsar list:

• Keoladeo National Park and Loktak Lake are India’s two sites currently on the Montreux Record, both added in 1990.
• Chilika Lake was also once on the record, added in 1993, and removed in 2002 after restoration work revived the lagoon.
• The East Kolkata Wetlands treats the city’s sewage through a chain of fish ponds, recycling 60-80% of Kolkata’s wastewater naturally.
• It is one of only two such natural wastewater-treatment wetlands in the world; the other is in Uganda.

Why is India’s Ramsar count still climbing so fast?

• India added 15 new Ramsar Sites across just 2025 and 2026, a fast-accelerating pace of recognition.
• The exact count is never fixed for long, so any Ramsar figure in exam prep should be checked against the latest update.
• A wetland’s role goes well beyond birdwatching: wetlands filter water, recharge groundwater, buffer floods, and store carbon.
• Many of India’s Ramsar Sites also support local livelihoods, through fishing, tourism, and water-based occupations.

What does “wise use” actually mean?

Ramsar’s core philosophy is “wise use”: maintaining a wetland’s ecological character through sustainable development, not by excluding all human activity from it.

• This idea was adopted in the Convention’s own original 1971 text, making Ramsar an early adopter of what later became “sustainable development.”
• The formal definition of “wise use” was first set in 1987, then updated again in 2005.
• UPSC Mains 2018 directly asked candidates to define wetlands and explain this wise-use concept, citing Indian examples.

What just became India’s 101st Ramsar Site?

On 3 August 2026, Glaw Lake in Arunachal Pradesh became India’s 101st Ramsar Site, and the state’s first.

• Glaw Lake sits inside the Kamlang Tiger Reserve in the Eastern Himalayas, home to over 150 tree species and 49 orchid species.
• It supports four big-cat species: tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, and snow leopard.
• It is a wintering ground for the critically endangered white-bellied heron.
• The local Mishmi community regards the lake as sacred. (Source: PIB and The Arunachal Times, August 2026)