Supreme Court reviews 2017 wetland rules after Ravindra Sinha challenge
The Supreme Court is taking a fresh look at India's wetland protection rules from 2017.
This comes after activists, led by Ravindra Sinha, challenged a rule that leaves out human-made and historically developed wetlands from legal protection.
They say this move goes against India's promise under the Ramsar Convention to safeguard all types of wetlands, natural or artificial.
Petitioners warn India's Ramsar-listed wetlands threatened
Petitioners are worried that nearly half of India's Ramsar-listed wetlands could lose protection because the 2017 rules exclude water bodies used for things like irrigation or recreation.
They also point out that switching from the older 2010 framework removed key protections, narrowed definitions, and pointed to the National Wetland Atlas (2011) and ISRO's National Wetland Inventory and Assessment, which classify natural and artificial wetlands together as part of a unified ecological continuum.