The Ramsar List
Context:
- As part of various sustainable activities, Coal India Ltd (CIL) has under taken– Conservation of coal mine pit lakes, maintenance of ecological character of wet lands and inclusion of such pit lakes in prestigious Ramsar List with the assistance of respective State Governments and the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC).
Background:
- To meet the energy demands it is necessary to augment the coal production in the country.
- So the coal sector is facing the challenge of increasing the production of coal and also achieving it through the sustainable means.
- As a part of this, the Coal India has come forward to preserve the coal mine pit lakes and their inclusion into the Ramsar List.
- As per the guidance of MoEFCC, CIL has identified five pit lakes in the States of West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh for consideration of including in Ramsar list.
About RAMSAR –
- The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites.
- It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971
- The Ramsar Convention’s broad aims are to halt the worldwide loss of wetlands and to conserve, through wise use and management.
Does this pit lakes come under the definition of wetlands?
- The Convention uses a broad definition of wetlands.
- It includes all lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands, peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, mangroves and other coastal areas, coral reefs, and all human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs and salt pans.
Source The Hindu
