Topics Covered: Conservation related issues.
Tso Kar Wetland Complex:
Context:
India now has forty-two Ramsar sites with the addition of Ladakh’s Tso Kar wetland.
About Tso Kar:
- Tso Kar Basin is a high-altitude wetland complex, consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake and Tso Kar itself, a hyper saline lake, 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.
- It is also an Important Bird Area (IBA) as per BirdLife International and a key staging site in the Central Asian Flyway.
Important bird species found in the area:
Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis), Great Crested Grebe (Podicepscristatus), Bar-headed Geese (Anserindicus), Ruddy Shelduck (Tadornaferruginea), Brown-headed Gull (Larusbrunnicephalus), Lesser Sand-Plover (Charadriusmongolus) and many other species.
About Ramsar convention:
- It is an international treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
- It is named after the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the Caspian Sea, where the treaty was signed on 2 February 1971.
- Known officially as ‘the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat’ (or, more recently, just ‘the Convention on Wetlands’), it came into force in 1975.
Montreux Record:
Montreux Record under the Convention is a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference.
It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List.
The Montreux Record was established by Recommendation of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (1990).
- Sites may be added to and removed from the Record only with the approval of the Contracting Parties in which they lie.
Currently, two wetlands of India are in Montreux record: Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) and Loktak Lake (Manipur).
Chilka lake (Odisha)was placed in the record but was later removed from it.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- About Ramsar convention.
- About Montreux record.
- Wetlands in India covered under the convention.
- About Tso Kar basin.
- Important bird species found in the area.
- About Central Asian Flyway.
Sources: PIB.
