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India's Ramsar Tally Reaches 103 with Sukhna Wetland and Sauj Jheel

16 October 2026National

India's network of Ramsar sites has risen to 103 with the designation of the Sukhna Wetland in Chandigarh and Sauj Jheel in Uttar Pradesh, announced by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav in October 2026. Sukhna spans about 565 acres at the foothills of the Outer Himalayas, fed by a catchment of over 10,000 acres that includes the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary, and hosts migratory birds on the Central Asian Flyway. Sauj Jheel, a shallow lake in the Ganga floodplain, is a BirdLife International Important Bird Area supporting over 30,000 waterbirds, including the Vulnerable Sarus Crane. Uttar Pradesh now has 14 sites, second to Tamil Nadu.

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The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was signed at Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971 and came into force in 1975; its secretariat is at Gland, Switzerland | India joined in 1982, with Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Keoladeo (Rajasthan) as its first Ramsar sites | Tamil Nadu has the highest number of Ramsar sites in India; World Wetlands Day is observed on 2 February

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