What is the significance of wetlands in an ecosystem? A) They are breeding and nesting areas for birds and animals. B) They protect coastlines from erosion and reduce damage from storms and cyclones. C) They help in purifying water. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

What is the significance of wetlands in an ecosystem? A) They are breeding and nesting areas for birds and animals. B) They protect coastlines from erosion and reduce damage from storms and cyclones. C) They help in purifying water. Select the correct answer using the code given below. Correct Answer A, B, C

The Correct answer is A, B, C.
Important Points
  • A wetland is a place where the land is covered by water. Marshes, ponds, the edge of a lake/ocean, the delta at the mouth of a river, low-lying areas that frequently flood -all of these are wetlands.
  • As per the Ramsar Convention definition, most of the natural water bodies (such as rivers, lakes, coastal lagoons, mangroves, peatland, coral reefs) and man-made wetlands (such as ponds, farm ponds, irrigated fields, sacred groves, salt pans, reservoirs, gravel pits, sewage farms and canals) in India constitute the wetland ecosystem.
  • Wetlands are indispensable for the countless benefits or- ecosystem services that they provide humanity, ranging from freshwater supply, breeding and nesting areas for birds and animals, food and building materials, to control flood by protecting the coastlines from erosion as well as reducing the damage from cyclones, groundwater recharge, purifying water and climate change mitigation etc. Hence all the statements are correct.
Additional Information
Ramsar Convention-
  • The Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
  • It was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975, and it is the only global environmental the treaty that deals with a particular ecosystem.
  • Ramsar is not affiliated with the United Nations system of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, but it works very closely with the other MEAs and is a full partner among the “biodiversity-related cluster” of treaties and agreements.
  • World Wetlands Day, 2 February every year. A number of Contracting Parties: 163.
  • The three pillars of the convention are
  1. Work towards the wise use of all their wetlands through national land-use planning, appropriate policies and legislation, management actions, and public education.
  2. Designate suitable wetlands for the List of Wetlands of International Importance (“Ramsar List”) and ensure their effective management.
  3. Cooperate internationally concerning transboundary wetlands, shared wetland systems, shared species, and development projects that may affect wetlands.
  • India became a contracting party to the Ramsar Convention in 1981 and has been implementing conservation programmes for wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs.
  • India presently has 26 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance.
  • There is close coordination between implementing units of Ramsar with that of CBD at the national level. India took a lead role in the formulation of Ramsar guidelines on the integration of wetlands into river basin management.
  • The National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statements on Environment and Development (1992) and National Water Policy (2002) highlight conservation and sustainable development of wetlands.

Related Questions

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Eight north Indian Ocean countries, namely, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, were asked to contribute names so that a combined list could be compiled. Each country gave eight names and a combined list of 64 names was prepared. This list is currently in use, and all cyclones arising in the north Indian Ocean are named from this list, with one name from each country being used in turn. Almost 38 or 39 names from the list have been used up, but since many cyclones dissipate long before they hit land, their names rarely figure in the papers or other media. The names that people do know about, and remember are, naturally, those that were most destructive ones, or very recent. Aila, in 2009 is remembered with a shudder for the enormous destruction it caused in West Bengal and Bangladesh; Phaillin, also for the damage it caused when it hit the Odisha coast in 2013. Two harmless cyclones, which also might remain in peoples memory, are the more recent ones of 2014 — Hudhud, which threatened the east coast of India and Nilofar, which was expected to, but did not, devastate the western coast. The names in the cyclone list are usually words one associates with storms; words which mean water or wind or lightning in various national languages. Sometimes they are names of other things — birds or flowers or precious stones. The name Aila, contributed by the Maldives means fire, the name Phaillin from Thailand means sapphire, the name Hudhud from Oman is the name of a bird, probably the hoopoe, and the name Nilofar, given by Pakistan, is the Urdu name of the lotus or water lily. The eight names suggested by India, and which are in the list of 64, are Agni, Akaash, Bijli, Jal, Leher, Megh, Sagar and Vayu, meaning in that order, fire, sky, lightning, water, wave, cloud, sea and wind. Five of these names (that is, up to Leher) have been used so far.
Names of which type of cyclones do people remember?
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Eight north Indian Ocean countries, namely, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, were asked to contribute names so that a combined list could be compiled. Each country gave eight names and a combined list of 64 names was prepared. This list is currently in use, and all cyclones arising in the north Indian Ocean are named from this list, with one name from each country being used in turn. Almost 38 or 39 names from the list have been used up, but since many cyclones dissipate long before they hit land, their names rarely figure in the papers or other media. The names that people do know about, and remember are, naturally, those that were most destructive ones, or very recent. Aila, in 2009 is remembered with a shudder for the enormous destruction it caused in West Bengal and Bangladesh; Phaillin, also for the damage it caused when it hit the Odisha coast in 2013. Two harmless cyclones, which also might remain in peoples memory, are the more recent ones of 2014 — Hudhud, which threatened the east coast of India and Nilofar, which was expected to, but did not, devastate the western coast. The names in the cyclone list are usually words one associates with storms; words which mean water or wind or lightning in various national languages. Sometimes they are names of other things — birds or flowers or precious stones. The name Aila, contributed by the Maldives means fire, the name Phaillin from Thailand means sapphire, the name Hudhud from Oman is the name of a bird, probably the hoopoe, and the name Nilofar, given by Pakistan, is the Urdu name of the lotus or water lily. The eight names suggested by India, and which are in the list of 64, are Agni, Akaash, Bijli, Jal, Leher, Megh, Sagar and Vayu, meaning in that order, fire, sky, lightning, water, wave, cloud, sea and wind. Five of these names (that is, up to Leher) have been used so far.
For the next cyclone if it is the turn of an Indian name to be chosen, then what will be that name?
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Eight north Indian Ocean countries, namely, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, were asked to contribute names so that a combined list could be compiled. Each country gave eight names and a combined list of 64 names was prepared. This list is currently in use, and all cyclones arising in the north Indian Ocean are named from this list, with one name from each country being used in turn. Almost 38 or 39 names from the list have been used up, but since many cyclones dissipate long before they hit land, their names rarely figure in the papers or other media. The names that people do know about, and remember are, naturally, those that were most destructive ones, or very recent. Aila, in 2009 is remembered with a shudder for the enormous destruction it caused in West Bengal and Bangladesh; Phaillin, also for the damage it caused when it hit the Odisha coast in 2013. Two harmless cyclones, which also might remain in peoples memory, are the more recent ones of 2014 — Hudhud, which threatened the east coast of India and Nilofar, which was expected to, but did not, devastate the western coast. The names in the cyclone list are usually words one associates with storms; words which mean water or wind or lightning in various national languages. Sometimes they are names of other things — birds or flowers or precious stones. The name Aila, contributed by the Maldives means fire, the name Phaillin from Thailand means sapphire, the name Hudhud from Oman is the name of a bird, probably the hoopoe, and the name Nilofar, given by Pakistan, is the Urdu name of the lotus or water lily. The eight names suggested by India, and which are in the list of 64, are Agni, Akaash, Bijli, Jal, Leher, Megh, Sagar and Vayu, meaning in that order, fire, sky, lightning, water, wave, cloud, sea and wind. Five of these names (that is, up to Leher) have been used so far.
Which country did not contribute to the list of the cyclone names?
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Eight north Indian Ocean countries, namely, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, were asked to contribute names so that a combined list could be compiled. Each country gave eight names and a combined list of 64 names was prepared. This list is currently in use, and all cyclones arising in the north Indian Ocean are named from this list, with one name from each country being used in turn. Almost 38 or 39 names from the list have been used up, but since many cyclones dissipate long before they hit land, their names rarely figure in the papers or other media. The names that people do know about, and remember are, naturally, those that were most destructive ones, or very recent. Aila, in 2009 is remembered with a shudder for the enormous destruction it caused in West Bengal and Bangladesh; Phaillin, also for the damage it caused when it hit the Odisha coast in 2013. Two harmless cyclones, which also might remain in peoples memory, are the more recent ones of 2014 — Hudhud, which threatened the east coast of India and Nilofar, which was expected to, but did not, devastate the western coast. The names in the cyclone list are usually words one associates with storms; words which mean water or wind or lightning in various national languages. Sometimes they are names of other things — birds or flowers or precious stones. The name Aila, contributed by the Maldives means fire, the name Phaillin from Thailand means sapphire, the name Hudhud from Oman is the name of a bird, probably the hoopoe, and the name Nilofar, given by Pakistan, is the Urdu name of the lotus or water lily. The eight names suggested by India, and which are in the list of 64, are Agni, Akaash, Bijli, Jal, Leher, Megh, Sagar and Vayu, meaning in that order, fire, sky, lightning, water, wave, cloud, sea and wind. Five of these names (that is, up to Leher) have been used so far.
Which of the following names is a type of a precious stone?
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Eight north Indian Ocean countries, namely, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, were asked to contribute names so that a combined list could be compiled. Each country gave eight names and a combined list of 64 names was prepared. This list is currently in use, and all cyclones arising in the north Indian Ocean are named from this list, with one name from each country being used in turn. Almost 38 or 39 names from the list have been used up, but since many cyclones dissipate long before they hit land, their names rarely figure in the papers or other media. The names that people do know about, and remember are, naturally, those that were most destructive ones, or very recent. Aila, in 2009 is remembered with a shudder for the enormous destruction it caused in West Bengal and Bangladesh; Phaillin, also for the damage it caused when it hit the Odisha coast in 2013. Two harmless cyclones, which also might remain in peoples memory, are the more recent ones of 2014 — Hudhud, which threatened the east coast of India and Nilofar, which was expected to, but did not, devastate the western coast. The names in the cyclone list are usually words one associates with storms; words which mean water or wind or lightning in various national languages. Sometimes they are names of other things — birds or flowers or precious stones. The name Aila, contributed by the Maldives means fire, the name Phaillin from Thailand means sapphire, the name Hudhud from Oman is the name of a bird, probably the hoopoe, and the name Nilofar, given by Pakistan, is the Urdu name of the lotus or water lily. The eight names suggested by India, and which are in the list of 64, are Agni, Akaash, Bijli, Jal, Leher, Megh, Sagar and Vayu, meaning in that order, fire, sky, lightning, water, wave, cloud, sea and wind. Five of these names (that is, up to Leher) have been used so far.
Which name suggested by India has not been used so far?