Three new Wetlands to be declared under Ramsar Convention this year

Three new Wetlands to be declared under Ramsar Convention this year – Minister Pavithra

Irrigation, Wildlife and Forest Conservation Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said that the Wildlife Department has planned to declare three new wetlands in Sri Lanka as wetlands under the Ramsar Convention.

The minister mentioned this while speaking to the media on the occasion of “World Wetlands Day” that fell on February 2.

The Wildlife Department has planned to designate the Viduthalaithivu Nature Reserve in Mannar district, Adam’s Bridge National Park and the Chundikulam National Park in Jaffna district as new wetland zones in 2024.

The minister further said that steps have also been taken to expand the Wankalai Sanctuary up to the Wedithalativu Nature Reserve.

She said that necessary activities are underway to announce the Mirissa Marine Sanctuary this year.

Wildlife Department Director Manjula Amararatne said that the Narangala mountain range and the surrounding area of 239 hectares belonging to the Badulla Soranathota Divisional Secretariat, which is the feeding area for many streams and waterfalls, was designated as a sanctuary on December 5 last year.

So far, according to the Ramsar Convention, six wetland zones have been declared in Sri Lanka which are Bundala National Park, Madu Ganga Sanctuary, Anawilundawa Sanctuary, Wankalai Sanctuary, Kumana Kudumbigala Wetland Cluster and Wilpattu Sanctuary that belong to the existing Ramsar Wetlands in Sri Lanka.

“Wetlands and human well-being” has been named as the theme of the 2024 World Wetlands Day by the United Nations. For the protection of wetlands in the world, the convention reached in 1971 in the city of Ramsar, Iraq, with the participation of 136 countries, is known as the Ramsar Wetlands Convention.

Due to the importance of this convention, in October 1990, Sri Lanka also signed an agreement as a party to this convention. Except for the snow-covered areas of the Southern Hemisphere and the Antarctic continent, wetlands are widespread in all other continents of the world. Wetlands worldwide are estimated by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Monitoring Centre. There are about 570 million hectares of wetlands on Earth which is 6 percent of the Earth’s surface.

According to the Ramsar Convention, a wetland is defined as “a natural or artificial, permanently or temporarily flowing or non-flowing sea water or freshwater or brackish water marsh or swamp or water body area, including areas where the depth of sea water does not exceed six meters at high tide.”

Wetlands are very rich ecosystems with high biodiversity and a variety of natural changes occur through a wetland,including preventing flood threats, cleaning polluted water, storing water and then releasing it.