World Wetlands Day 2026 National Celebration Held in Battaramulla
World Wetlands Day falls today (February 02), highlighting the importance of conserving wetlands worldwide. The theme for this year is “Celebrating Cultural Heritage Associated with Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge.”
The national celebration of World Wetlands Day 2026 was held this morning at the Ape Gama premises in Battaramulla under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. In conjunction with the event, the Gonamariwa Environmental Protection Area was officially declared as Sri Lanka’s 14th Environmental Protection Area.
The programme featured a wetland walk, street plays, prize distribution for winners of an island-wide art competition, the launch of a guidebook on the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, the release of the magazine Wetlands Sri Lanka, and the screening of a documentary produced to mark the occasion.
World Wetlands Day is observed annually on February 2, as designated by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and recognized by the United Nations. The International Convention on the Conservation of Wetlands was signed in Ramsar, Iran, on February 2, 1971, and Sri Lanka became a signatory to the convention in 1991.
