TSO KAR WETLAND LADAKH:THE 42ND RAMSAR SITE IN INDIA

India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex in Ladakh as its 42nd Ramsar site, which is a second one in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. The first such site in the UT of Ladakh is Tsomoriri Lake.

• The Tso Kar Basin is a high-altitude wetland complex, consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake of about 438 hectares to the south, and Tso Kar itself, a hypersaline lake of 1800 hectares to the north, situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh, India.

• It is called Tso Kar, meaning white lake, because of the white salt efflorescence found on the margins due to the evaporation of highly saline water.

• The Tso Kar Basin is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA) as per Bird Life International and a key staging site in the Central Asian Flyway.

• The site is also one of the most important breeding areas of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in India.

• This IBA is also the major breeding area for Great Crested Grebe (Podicepscristatus), Bar-headed Geese (Anserindicus), Ruddy Shelduck (Tadornaferruginea), Brown-headed Gull (Larusbrunnicephalus), Lesser Sand-Plover (Charadriusmongolus) and many other species.

• The aim of the Ramsar list is “to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits”.

RAMSAR WETLANDS SITES (As on December, 2020)

Sl. No.	Name of Site	State Location	Date of Declaration	Area  (in Sq. km.)
1	Asan Conservation Reserve	Uttarakhand	21.7.2020	4.444
2	Asthamudi Wetland	Kerala	19.8.2002	614
3	Beas Conservation Reserve	Punjab	26.9.2019	64.289
4	Bhitarkanika Mangroves	Orissa	19.8.2002	650
5	Bhoj Wetlands	Madhya Pradesh	19.8.2002	32.01
6	Chandertal Wetland	Himachal Pradesh	8.11.2005	0.49
7	Chilka Lake	Orissa	1.10.1981	1165
8	Deepor Beel	Assam	19.8.2002	40
9	East Kolkata Wetlands	West Bengal	19.8.2002	125
10	Harike Lake	Punjab	23.3.1990	41
11	Hokera Wetland	Jammu and Kashmir	8.11.2005	13.75
12	Kabartal Wetland	Bihar	21.07.2020	26.20
13	Kanjli Lake	Punjab	22.1.2002	1.83
14	Keoladeo Ghana NP	Rajasthan	1.10.1981	28.73
15	Keshopur-Miani Community Reserve	Punjab	26.9.2019	3.439
16	Kolleru Lake	Andhra Pradesh	19.8.2002	901
17	Loktak Lake	Manipur	23.3.1990	266
18	Lonar Lake	Maharashtra	22.7.2020	4.27
19	Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary	Gujarat	24.09.2012	120
20	Nandur Madhameshwar	Maharashtra	21.6.2019	14.37
21	Nangal Wildlife Sanctuary	Punjab	26.9.2019	1.16
22	Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary	Uttar Pradesh	19.9.2019	2.246
23	Parvati Agra Bird Sanctuary	Uttar Pradesh	2.12.2019	7.22
24	Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary	Tamil Nadu	19.8.2002	385
25	Pong Dam Lake	Himachal Pradesh	19.8.2002	156.62
26	Renuka Wetland	Himachal Pradesh	8.11.2005	0.2
27	Ropar Lake	Punjab	22.1.2002	13.65
28	Rudrasagar Lake	Tripura	8.11.2005	2.4
29	Saman Bird Sanctuary	Uttar Pradesh	2.12.2019	52.63
30	Samaspur Bird Sanctuary	Uttar Pradesh	3.10.2019	79.94
31	Sambhar Lake	Rajasthan	23.3.1990	240
32	Sandi Bird Sanctuary	Uttar Pradesh	26.9.2019	30.85
33	Sarsai Nawar Jheel	Uttar Pradesh	19.9.2019	16.13
34	Sasthamkotta Lake	Kerala	19.8.2002	3.73
35	Sunderbans Wetland	West Bengal	30.1.2019	4230
36	Surinsar-Mansar Lakes	Jammu and Kashmir	8.11.2005	3.5
37	Sur Sarovar	Uttar Pradesh	21.8.2020	4.31
38	Tsomoriri Lake	UT of Ladakh	19.8.2002	120
39	Upper Ganga River (Brijghat to Narora Stretch)	Uttar Pradesh	8.11.2005	265.9
40	Vembanad Kol Wetland	Kerala	19.8.2002	1512.5
41	Wular Lake	Jammu & Kashmir	23.3.1990	189
42.	Tso Kar	UT of Ladakh	2020