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The Chhari-Dhandh Wetland Conservation Reserve successful Gujarat’s Kachchh territory was designated arsenic a Ramsar Site (Wetland of International Importance) connected January 31, marking a large milestone successful India’s wetland conservation efforts and placing the tract connected the planetary ecological map, officials said connected Friday (February 6, 2026).
Gujarat Forest and Environment Minister Arjun Modhwadia, connected behalf of the Forest Department, presented the Ramsar Site certificate to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel successful Gandhinagar. The Chief Minister congratulated the Forest Department team, noting that Chhari-Dhandh has go Gujarat’s 5th Ramsar Site and the archetypal successful the Kachchh region.
Chhari-Dhandh is simply a unsocial wetland ecosystem located astatine the ecological interface of desert, grassland and wetland landscapes.
“The reserve attracts thousands of migratory birds annually, including the globally important Grey Hypocolius (Hypocolius ampelinus). The wetland was designated arsenic Gujarat’s archetypal Conservation Reserve successful August 2008 nether the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, erstwhile Narendra Modi was Chief Minister of the State,” officials said.
They said that aboriginal conservation decisions laid the instauration for semipermanent situation protection, biodiversity conservation and clime resilience successful the arid Kachchh landscape. Over the years, Chhari-Dhandh has emerged arsenic a large destination for birdwatchers, researchers and ornithologists from India and abroad.
According to circuit operators and ornithologists associated with bird-watching trails, implicit 80% of visitors to the reserve are overseas tourists, chiefly from Nordic countries, the United States and the United Kingdom. Visitors from much than 52 countries person truthful acold visited the wetland.
Ecologists spot Chhari-Dhandh arsenic 1 of Asia’s important wetlands for migratory birds. Surveys successful the Banni wetlands person recorded implicit 50,000 waterbirds, including much than 40,000 cranes astatine a azygous site. Around 283 vertebrate taxon person been documented successful and astir Chhari-Dhandh, including 11 globally threatened taxon and 9 Near Threatened species.
Following its notification arsenic a Conservation Reserve successful 2008, the Gujarat authorities has implemented sustained conservation measures, including situation protection, ecological monitoring and assemblage participation. The reserve contiguous records the highest vertebrate diverseness successful Kachchh district, with 187 vertebrate species, accounting for implicit 35% of Gujarat’s avifaunal diversity. In April 2025, an estimated 500–600 Grey Hypocolius were sighted successful the reserve.
Spread implicit astir 22,700 hectares and encompassing 12 villages, Chhari-Dhandh lies astatine the confluence of tropical thorn forest, Banni grassland and the Little Rann landscape. This convergence of ecosystems supports divers habitats and affluent floral and faunal assemblages captious to ecological balance.
The Ramsar designation was granted owed to Chhari-Dhandh’s uncommon godforsaken wetland character, precocious biodiversity and its relation arsenic a cardinal migratory vertebrate situation on the Central Asian Flyway. The wetland supports much than 180 vertebrate taxon and serves arsenic an important wintering and stopover site.
“Gujarat lies astatine the confederate extremity of the Central Asian Flyway, a large migratory way linking Central Asia with the Indian subcontinent. Wetlands successful Kachchh, including Chhari-Dhandh, supply captious feeding and resting grounds for migratory birds arriving each wintertime from Central Asia, Iran and Siberia, giving the tract planetary ecological significance,” officials added.
