At 82, India Has More Ramsar Sites Than China

At 82, India has now surpassed China in the number of designated Ramsar sites, but this comes at a time when the world has already lost 87% of its wetlands, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands Dr Musonda Mumba has said.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

Speaking at the Sinhasi Social Impact Initiative Conference 2 on "Wetland Conservation and Climate Change" on Sunday, Dr Mumba urged immediate and large-scale action to protect these fragile ecosystems, which are disappearing three times faster than forests.

Dr Mumba touched upon the alarming rate of wetland loss, the link between wetlands and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the role of communities in conservation, and the need to treat wetlands as critical natural infrastructure. She praised India's cultural and ecological connection to wetlands, pointing to the pressures on urban wetlands like in Bengaluru, and stressed the importance of better monitoring, funding, and partnerships.