101 and Counting- Glaw Lake Brings Arunachal Pradesh its First Ramsar Site
Glaw Lake in Arunachal Pradesh has been designated as India’s 101st Ramsar Site, marking a significant milestone as the wetland becomes the state’s first Ramsar Site.
Photo Gallery: Glaw Lake, India's 101st Ramsar Site
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Ramsar Sites List is one of the crucial pillars of the Ramsar Convention, the only multilateral environmental agreement focused on wetlands. The vision for creating this 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/services’.
Glaw Lake, or Glaw Tuwi, is a natural freshwater wetland located in the Lohit district, Arunachal Pradesh, within the Kamlang Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve. Spanning 129 ha, the Ramsar Site provides habitat and wintering ground to multiple waterbirds as well as over 20 reptiles and amphibians. The wetland acts as a buffer, storing water from rainfall and streams, and plays a crucial role in regulating the flow of the River Kamlang. Glaw Lake is considered sacred and is highly revered by the Mishmi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. The tribe follows animistic belief systems that honour forests, wildlife, and natural elements as spiritually significant. This deep cultural relationship with nature underpins a place-based, community-led conservation ethic, now reinforced through collaboration with the Forest Department, highlighting the Mishmi’s vital role in long-term biodiversity conservation.
In 2024, Wetlands International South Asia and the State Wetland Authority of Arunachal Pradesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the conservation of high-altitude wetlands. The organisation is also entrusted with formulating an integrated management plan for Glaw Lake. In the coming years, Wetlands International South Asia will collaborate with the Government of Arunachal Pradesh to implement this management plan.