Visited Asan Barrage on World’s Wetland day 2nd Feb 2023 and saw number of migratory birds. Asan barrage is 45 km from Dehradun towards Ponta Sahib . Asan barrage recently added as one of the Ramsar Sites in 2020. Ramsar Sites are a list of wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands adopted on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The Convention on Wetlands came into force for India on February 1, 1982. There are over 2,000 “Ramsar Sites” on the territories of over 160 Contracting Parties across the world. As of October 2020, India has 54 Ramsar sites—third highest in Asia and the highest in South Asia (RSIS 2020).
I planned to visit Asan Barrage with Nakul and left early in the morning and reached site before sunrise. It is a big opportunity for us to visit wetland as it is close to Dehradun . Further the wetlands sink carbon from the atmosphere. Wetlands provide food and habitat for fish and wildlife , flood storage , shoreline erosion control. The number of birds observed like red-crested pochards , purple herons , minivets , spot-billed ducks , cormorants , coots , tufted ducks , gadwall’s , river lapwing , pallas’s fish eagle , steppe eagle etc..
