Why METT Matters for India's Ramsar Sites?

09 Dec, 2024

The Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) is an important tool for helping India manage and protect its wetlands, which are essential for biodiversity, water supply, and climate resilience. Wetlands provide critical services like flood control, water purification, and habitat for wildlife. India has 85 Ramsar sites, which are internationally recognised wetlands covering over 1.3 million hectares. However, to ensure these wetlands continue to provide these services, it’s necessary to regularly evaluate how well they are being managed.

METT was developed to help assess the effectiveness of wetland management. Rather than ranking wetlands, the tool focuses on monitoring and improving management practices over time. It looks at various aspects, including planning, resources, processes, and the outcomes of management efforts. This helps identify what is working well and where improvements are needed.

The tool includes simple data sheets that track information about the wetland, its value, the threats it faces, and various aspect of wetland management. These sheets provide insights to help managers make better decisions for the future of the wetlands.

To ensure METT is used effectively, three workshops have been held across India to train wetland managers. Managers from over 60 Ramsar Sites have been supported with applying METT at their sites. This helps ensure that the management of wetlands is effective but sustainable in the long run.

As we continue to apply the METT framework across India, the insights gained from these evaluations will be crucial in refining management approaches, addressing emerging threats, and ensuring that wetlands continue to thrive. Learning from these, India is setting a precedent for effective and adaptive management of its Ramsar Sites, which are essential to the country’s biodiversity and climate goals.

For those interested in assessing the progress of a specific wetland, the METT Guidebook, co-developed with the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) and Wetlands International South Asia, offers a detailed overview of the tool's application and methodology.

Access the METT Guidebook here: https://indo-germanbiodiversity.com/pdf/publication/publication23-01-2024-1706028165.pdf

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About the project

The Wetlands Management for Biodiversity and Climate Protection project aims to strengthen the institutional framework and capacities for an ecosystem-based integrated management of wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites) in India. The project is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in close cooperation with the National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA). This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag. Read More

For more information contact: biodiv.india@giz.de