World Wetland Day 2025: Celebrations and Key Initiatives
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Event | World Wetland Day 2025 |
| Organizer | Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) |
| Venue | Parvati Arga Ramsar Site, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh (UP) |
| Date | 2nd February 2025 |
| Theme | Protecting Wetlands for our Common Future |
| Historical Significance | Marks the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran |
| New Initiative | Nature-culture tourism corridor between Ayodhya and Devi Patan in UP |
| Amrit Dharohar Initiative | Launched in June 2023 to conserve Ramsar Sites, focusing on species and habitat conservation, nature tourism, wetlands livelihood, and wetlands carbon |
| Key Threat | Pollution from industrial and human effluents degrading wetlands |
| Parvati Arga Ramsar Site | Location: Gangetic plains (Terai region) |
| Type: Permanent freshwater environment with two oxbow lakes (Parvati and Arga), rain-fed | |
| Nearby Development: Tikri Forest being developed as an eco-tourism site | |
| Ecological Significance: Refuge for critically endangered white-rumped vulture, Indian vulture, and endangered Egyptian vulture; winter migratory birds include Eurasian coots, mallards, greylag geese, northern pintails, and red-crested pochards | |
| Threats: Invasive species like common water hyacinth | |
| Cultural Landmarks: Birthplaces of Maharishi Patanjali and Goswami Tulsidas |