Ramsar Sites Any wetland site which has been listed under th | UPSC Current Affairs Daily

Ramsar Sites

Any wetland site which has been listed under the Ramsar Convention that aims to conserve it and promote sustainable use of its natural resources is called a Ramsar Site.
Ramsar Convention is known as the Convention of Wetlands.
It was established in 1971 by UNESCO and came into force in 1975. 
India is a party to the Ramsar Convention. India signed under it on 1st February 1982.
There are 42 Ramsar Sites in India
Sundarbans is the largest Ramsar Site of India
Chilika Lake (Orissa) and Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) were recognized as the first Ramsar Sites of India
Uttar Pradesh has the most number of Ramsar Sites in India. It has 8 Indian Wetlands
Renuka Wetland in Himachal Pradesh is the smallest wetland of India.
Ramsar sites are one of the major protected areas in the world.
There are currently over 2400 Ramsar sites in the world covering an area of 2.5 million sq. kilometres.
World’s First Ramsar site was identified in 1974, which was the Cobourg Peninsula in Australia.
The United Kingdom has the world’s largest number of Ramsar sites i.e 175.
February 2 is celebrated as International Wetlands Day as the Ramsar Convention was signed on February 2, 1971.
The Ramsar Convention works with the collaboration of the following organizations:
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Birdlife International.
International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
Wetlands International.
Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)
WWF International
To research any of the Ramsar sites, one can check the Ramsar Sites Information Service (RSIS)
The number of contracting parties for the Ramsar Convention as of October 2019 is 171.
The Ramsar sites are maintained in the Montreux Record to track any major ecological changes that might affect any of the wetland sites positively or in a reverse way.