New Delhi, July 30: A new book detailing more than 150 wetlands of the country has brought to the fore the desperate need to protect these "liquid treasures" from pollution, development and misuse. Despite protected under the international Ramsar wetland treaty, some of these wetlands need urgent attention and conservation. Urging the Indian government to provide more of its wetlands the Ramsar status at the Ramsar Convention scheduled for October this year, conservationists have asked the government to come up with more serious measures in conserving the country's wetland. The book, Potential and Existing Ramsar sites in India, includes 160 coastal and freshwater sites, out of which only 25 of have been classified under the Ramsar wetland treaty. These areas range from the Deepor Beel bird sanctuary in Assam to the Tisgul Tso marshes of Lakakh in the Himalayas and Suchindram and Theroor wetlands at the southern most tip of India. India had signed the Ramsar Convention (officially known as Convention on Wetlands of International Importance) in 1981 but so far has designated only 25 sites. The first two sites to be classified were Orissa's Chilika Lake and Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan. "These 25 Ramsar sites in the country do not represent even a fraction of the diversity of wetland habitats in the country. Wetlands are important for biodiversity conservation as some of the most endangered species survive on them," said one of the authors of the book, Dr Asad Rahmani, director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). He said in a country like India, where nearly 80 per cent of population depends on agriculture, wetlands like rainwater wetlands, rivers, wells and canals are important to sustain agricultural activities. Playing an important role in the ecological security of the country, some sites described in the book meet the criteria necessary for Ramsar status. "We have tried to deliberately covers every Indian state because each one boasts some hugely important sites," said Dr Rahmani. He said though these wetlands are protected under law, much more effort is required as India is one of the world's top 10 countries for diversity of wildlife. The Chhari-Dhand wetland in Gujarat was made a conservation reserve by the state government recently after 20 years of lobbying by conservationists.