Wetlands generally encompass regions of land that are periodically or consistently inundated by water, or are saturated with water, making them integral to our environment and human well-being. The total wetland area in the country estimated is 15.98 million hectares (Mha), which is around 4.86% of the total geographic area of the country. Compared to 2006-07, the area of wetlands has increased by over 6.4 lakh hectares or 4.18%. Wetlands generally encompass regions of land that are periodically or consistently inundated by water, or are saturated with water, making them integral to our environment and human well-being. They are recognized as some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth. They offer a multitude of benefits, including habitats for diverse flora and fauna, food production, carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, and groundwater replenishment. In addition to these ecological functions, humans are dependent on wetlands for transport, tourism, and even cultural and spiritual well-being. Further, Wetlands come in various types, each with its distinct characteristics and ecological functions, like swamps, mangroves, estuaries, ponds & lakes. In India, the geographical and climatic diversity of the country contributes to the presence of diverse wetland habitats across the subcontinent, covering a substantial area of nearly 58.2 million hectares. Some of the popular wetlands in India are the Sundarbans (Mangroves) in West Bengal, Vembanad (lake) in Kerala, Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir, and Rann of Kutch in Gujarat (seasonal salt marsh). While the usual discourse is surrounding Ramsar Sites, in this story, we look at how the area occupied by wetlands in the country has changed over time across states and different bio-geographic zones. We also look at some of the important measures taken by the government to preserve them. Data for the story has been taken from Dataful and MoSPI’s EnviStats. Those wetlands with an area of more than 2.25 hectares have been covered in the data as captured by Space-based observation of Indian wetlands. Wetlands are defined in Envistats as areas of land that are either temporarily or permanently covered by water. These are neither truly aquatic nor terrestrial. It is possible that wetlands can be both at the same time depending on seasonal variability. These could be natural or man−made and found both in the inland and coastal areas. The total wetland area in the country estimated is 15.98 million hectares (Mha), which is around 4.86% of the total geographic area of the country. A total of 2,31,195 wetlands, each having an area of more than 2.25 hectares have been mapped. Compared to 2006-07, the area of wetlands has increased by over 6.4 lakh hectares or 4.18%. Man-made wetlands have increased over the years The category-wise distribution of wetlands in India in 2006-07 and 2017-18 is mapped in the following chart. Wetlands are made by people for different reasons such as to prevent waterlogging, sewage treatment, ecological restoration, and irrigation. Some examples of man-made wetlands include the Ropar Wetland in Punjab and the Vaduvur Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Manmade wetlands are bound to increase due to the development of soil and water conservation structures such as aquaculture ponds, reservoirs /barrages, tanks & ponds, etc. Meanwhile, most of the coastal wetlands are natural. While there has been an increase in man-made wetlands in inland & coastal areas by 12% and 27%, respectively, the natural coastal wetlands have shrunk by 2%. 70% of the wetlands are in 8 states As of 2017-18, nearly 22% of the wetlands (by area) in the country were in Gujarat. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh accounted for around 7% each while Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Assam contributed 5% each. That is, nearly 70% of the wetlands by area were concentrated in these 8 states. Over the decade, there has been considerable change in wetlands across almost all the states. The area has increased by 4.4% at the national level. Across states, Mizoram has recorded an increase of more than 41% and Tripura recorded an increase of nearly 30%. Among the large states, Maharashtra recorded the highest- 17.3% increase followed by Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Haryana by around 13%. On the other hand, the area in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has not changed much. Bihar and Punjab are the only two states which reported shrinkage- down by 3.8% and 2.8%, respectively. Wetlands Area has reduced in Islands Biogeographic zones are large regions with similar ecological and geographical features, categorizing Earth’s diverse ecosystems based on shared characteristics.