Guwahati redefining the concept of the urban jungle

Key Facts:-

• What is common to the Chinese pangolin, Nepal cricket frog, Bengal monitor lizard, Assamese cat snake, Eurasian moorhen, Asian elephant, Terai cricket frog, and Ganges river dolphin? 
• They share space with an estimated one million humans in Guwahati, Assam’s principal city, and the largest in the northeast, along with 326 other species of fauna recorded so far. Very few of them are caged in the Assam State zoo that occupies 30 hectares of the 620­hectare Hengerabari Reserve Forest referred to as the city’s lungs.
• Guwahati redefines the term “urban jungle” with 334 and counting free-ranging faunal species living in the green spaces within concrete structures.  The 328­sq km city and its outskirts have 18 hills, eight reserve forests, two wildlife sanctuaries, and a Ramsar site (Deepor Beel) besides the Brahmaputra flowing past its northern edge. This stretch of the river has a few Ganges river dolphin, which has the status of ‘city animal’
• Wildlife specialists are worried that Guwahati has been following the global trend, which projects the urban area on earth to triple before 2030. 

Ramsar Convention

• It was signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar and is one of the oldest inter-governmental accords for preserving the ecological character of wetlands.
• It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands.
• Its aim is to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes, and benefits.
• Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines of the convention.

Montreux Record

• Montreux Record under the Ramsar Convention is a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference.
• It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List.
• Currently, two wetlands of India are in Montreux record: Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) and Loktak Lake (Manipur).
• Chilika Lake (Odisha) was placed in the record but was later removed from it.

Source: The Hindu