India crossed a historic milestone in wetland conservation by notifying its 100th Ramsar Site, the Jai Prakash Narayan Bird Sanctuary, also called Surha Tal, in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. The designation was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on World Environment Day, 5 June 2026, and confirmed in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention of 1971.

Surha Tal is an oxbow lake formed by the Ganga river system and supports a rich mosaic of aquatic vegetation, fish, amphibians and reptiles. The wetland attracts a large number of resident and migratory birds, including species that travel along the Central Asian Flyway, making it ecologically critical for waterfowl populations across northern India. It becomes the thirteenth Ramsar site of Uttar Pradesh, the highest number for any single state in the country.

With Surha Tal, India now hosts 100 Ramsar sites covering about 13,60,805.63 hectares, the largest network of designated wetlands of international importance in South Asia. Since 2014, 67 new sites have been added, reflecting an accelerated pace of identification, scientific assessment and notification through the National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems and the Amrit Dharohar initiative. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has linked these sites to ecotourism, community livelihoods and climate resilience, recognising wetlands as natural buffers against floods, droughts and biodiversity loss in the context of climate change.