LAHORE, Feb 1: On the eve of the World Wetlands Day on Sunday (today), Pakistan has identified three new wetlands of international importance in Sindh because of their unique biodiversity and habitat provision to a variety of species.

The new sites include Indus Delta (472,800 hectare), Rann of Kutch (566,375 hectare) and Deh Akro (20,500 hectare).

With the addition of these three wetlands the number of Ramsar sites in Pakistan has increased to 19, says a WWF-Pakistan release issued here on Saturday.

The World Wetlands Day is celebrated to mark the signing of convention on wetlands on Feb 2, 1997, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The convention came into effect in 1975 and Pakistan is one of its earliest signatories. It is in relation to this convention that all wetlands of international importance are called as Ramsar sites.

Pakistan’s wetlands include flood plain wetlands of major river systems and their extensive network of tributaries; saline and temporary wetlands of arid and semi-arid expanses inland; coastal system such as lagoons; backwaters; mangrove swamps; marine wetlands; and coral associated with Astola Island in Balochistan.

The new identified wetlands provide sanctuary to 40 species of migratory birds during winter. Besides providing habitat to the waterfowl, these sites also help maintain genetic and ecological biodiversity in the region.

Indus Delta houses the seventh largest mangrove forest in the world. It supports more than 60,000 species of waterfowl along with a significant population of fish.

Rann of Kutch is a true desert habitat, supporting globally threatened wildlife and plant population.

Deh Akro is globally considered important because it is a unique representative of a natural inland wetland ecosystem of 36 lakes and a desert habitat that supports a variety of flora and fauna species.

Meanwhile, a WWF-Pakistan spokesman says the organization would celebrate the World Wetlands Day with full vigour to spread awareness about wetlands throughout 2003 which has been declared the International Year of Freshwater by the UN.