Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission: 100 to Notify, a 50 Ramsar Target

In 2022 Tamil Nadu gave its wetland authority ₹115.15 crore and a five-year brief: notify at least 100 wetlands under the national rules and get at least 50 listed as Ramsar sites. With the funding window closing, here is how notification works, what the money was for and how the targets compare with the record.

The numbers

Tamil Nadu has 20 Ramsar sites, according to the State Wetlands Authority’s dashboard. The mission order behind the recent burst of listings, G.O.(Ms) No. 59 of 25 March 2022, set a floor of 50. It also asked for at least 100 wetlands to be notified under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, the step that gives a wetland a legally defined boundary and rules at home.

The Ramsar count is easy to check. The notification count is not: the authority publishes its list of 100 wetlands identified for notification, but not, as far as its website shows, how many have reached the Gazette. That second number decides whether the mission has changed anything on the ground.

What G.O. 59 sanctioned

The order came from the Environment, Climate Change and Forests department. It sanctioned ₹115.15 crore over the mission period, released ₹14.75 crore for the first two years and booked the money as grants-in-aid under the forestry and wildlife budget head, with Finance Department concurrence. The State Wetlands Authority made the request, and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests draws and disburses the funds.

Source: G.O.(Ms) No. 59, Environment, Climate Change and Forests (FR.9) Department, 25 March 2022; the 2023-24 core figure is partly illegible in the scanned copy and is the value that reconciles the totals

Core spending covers the mission’s actual work: a digital inventory and mapping of wetlands watershed by watershed in each district, brief documents, draft and final notifications, integrated management plans and ecological restoration. Non-core spending pays for a project management unit, a GIS cell, field kits and monitoring. The targets set alongside were 100 notified wetlands, 50 Ramsar sites, 500 additional brief documents, 100 integrated management plans and 100 restored wetlands.

How a wetland gets legal protection

The 2017 Rules (G.S.R. 1203(E), 26 September 2017) set out the route. The state department prepares a brief document for each wetland: a boundary with digital maps, the zone of influence around it, its ecological character, existing rights and privileges, the activities to be permitted or regulated, and how the rules will be enforced. The State Wetlands Authority reviews it and recommends notification. After hearing objections, the state notifies the wetland in the Gazette within 240 days of the recommendation. The guidelines add a 60-day public consultation on the draft.

The Rules gave states tight deadlines: a list of all wetlands within three months, a list of those to be notified within six, a digital inventory within a year and brief documents within a year of publication. The Authority, chaired by the environment minister with the Chief Secretary as vice-chair, must meet at least three times a year and report on notified wetlands every six months.

Once a wetland is covered, Rule 4 bars conversion to non-wetland use and encroachment, new or expanded industries, solid waste dumping, construction debris and hazardous waste, untreated sewage and effluent, permanent construction other than boat jetties within 50 metres of the mean high flood level, and poaching.

Protection before notification

Notification is slow everywhere, so a stopgap exists. A Union environment ministry memorandum of 8 March 2022 reminded state authorities that, under a Supreme Court order of 4 October 2017, the 2,01,503 wetlands above 2.25 hectares mapped in the 2011 National Wetland Inventory and Assessment must be protected on the principles of Rule 4 irrespective of whether they have been notified. The authority’s documents page carries that order, a 2021 National Green Tribunal order and a Madras High Court judgment on the same theme.

The Chennai region on the list

The list of 100 wetlands is weighted heavily towards the north of the city. Tiruvallur district has 27 entries, more than any other district, followed by Ramanathapuram with 17. Chengalpattu has three: Otteri Lake, and the Vedanthangal and Karikili bird sanctuaries. Chennai district has one, the Pallikaranai Marsh Reserve Forest. Kancheepuram has none.

Source: Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority, List of 100 Wetlands Identified Under Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission (undated)

The ownership column matters for enforcement. The 25 Tiruvallur tanks belong to village panchayats through the Rural Development department, Ennore Creek to the Water Resources Department, and Pallikaranai is split between three agencies. A notification binds all of them, which is one reason it takes time.

Ramsar count against the target

The mission page records 13 new Ramsar listings in 2022, four in 2024 and two in 2025. Added to the one site listed earlier, Point Calimere, that gives the dashboard total of 20. The mission’s floor of 50 would need 30 more. The research behind the listings is on the documents page: brief documents for 141 wetlands prepared with SACON and the Wildlife Institute of India, health cards for 65 wetlands and an economic valuation of 80.

What this means for you

• If a tank or marsh near you is being filled with debris, Rule 4 applies even before notification; complaints go to the Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority and the district collector.
• Draft notifications must go through a 60-day public consultation, so residents near listed wetlands such as Pulicat or Ennore Creek can file objections and suggestions.
• Before buying land near a listed wetland, check whether its survey number falls inside the brief document’s boundary or zone of influence.
• The authority’s documents page publishes brief documents and health cards that show what each wetland is judged to need.

What to watch

Checked against official sources on 23 October 2026. Figures and rules change; confirm on the linked official pages before relying on them.

Sources

1. G.O.(Ms) No. 59, 25 March 2022, Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission, Environment, Climate Change and Forests Department
2. Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules 2017 and guidelines, compendium (TNSWA copy)
3. MoEFCC office memorandum on protection of wetlands under Rule 4, 8 March 2022 (TNSWA copy)
4. List of 100 wetlands identified under Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission, TNSWA
5. Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority, home and Ramsar dashboard
6. Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission, TNSWA
7. Documents, Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority