World Wetlands Day 2022: History, theme, significance & where to watch India's events

World Wetlands Day is celebrated on Feb. 2 worldwide, annually to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, also known as the Ramsar Convention near the shores of the Caspian Sea in Ramsar, Iran in the year 1971.  The day is dedicated to raising awareness among the people globally about the wetlands and the role that they play on the planet. 

This day encourages the communities to come together and reflect on the benefits provided by Mother Nature. This day is significant as on 30 August 2021, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 75/317 o establish February 2 as World Wetlands Day to be marked each year. 

World Wetlands Day 2022: History and importance

February 2, World Wetlands Day is the United Nations International Day of Importance when the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was signed on 2 February 1971 to raise public awareness of wetland values and benefits. It was also aimed to make the world’s population aware of the conservation and wise use of wetlands. The day was founded as initially five nations signed the Convention, but today over 170 nations are signatories to the Ramsar Convention and there are over 2,400 listed Ramsar wetlands, including in India.

On Feb. 2, these are the events lined up to mark the day in India.

Nearly 90% of the world’s wetlands have been degraded since the 1700s, according to the official website dedicated to the day. Wetlands worldwide are being degraded and lost three times faster than forests. Wetlands are critically important ecosystems that contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, world economies, and more.

World Wetlands Day awareness campaign, over several years, is organised by the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands. Contracting Parties of the Convention on Wetlands have been celebrating World Wetlands Day since 1997 when it was first established.

In India, the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) celebrated World Wetland Day (Vishwa Ardra Bhoomi Diwas) in 2021 virtually due to the pandemic at  Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, New Delhi. The event this year can be watched here. 

Significance and theme 

The World Wetlands Day is celebrated to raise awareness among all sections of the society, including in India about the values and functions of wetlands, utilization of their resources, and their environmental importance. Each year, a global theme is adopted to focus attention and help raise public awareness about the value of wetlands that raises awareness across the nation. 

The theme for 2022 is ‘Wetlands Action for People and Nature' and it involves calls for urgent action for the protection of the wetlands, which in India is also the focus of this years’ campaign. “It’s an appeal to invest financial, human, and political capital to save the world’s wetlands from disappearing and to restore those we have degraded,” India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change informed. The UN, meanwhile, says that it is urgent that people raise national and global awareness about wetlands in order to reverse their rapid loss and encourage actions to conserve and restore them. World Wetlands Day is the best occasion to enhance people’s understanding of the critically important ecosystems.