Wetlands

• Wetlands are areas intermediate in character between deepwater and terrestrial habitats, also transitional in nature, and often located between them.
• Recently Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary near Jamnagar in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh have been listed as Wetlands of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands.
• Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary is a freshwater wetland near the coast of the Gulf of Kutch, was formed following the creation of a bund (dike) in 1920 by the then ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Nawanagar to protect farmlands from saltwater ingress.
• The sanctuary is now part of Marine National Park, Jamnagar, and the first marine national park in the country.

Source: EPIC September 2021