PANAJI
The Nanda Lake in Curchorem is among the 10 more wetlands designated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as Ramsar sites, to help in conservation and management of wetlands and wise use of their resources.
Besides the Nanda, the other nine new sites are in Tamil Nadu (6) and ene each in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
India is one of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. So far, 64 wetlands covering an area of 12,50,361 ha have been designated as Ramsar Sites of International Importance from India till date.
The Nanda Lake, which covers an area of 42.01 ha, is considered to be critically significant for its ecosystem services and biodiversity values for the local communities and society at large.
The majority of the area is intermittent freshwater marshes that lie adjacent to one of the major rivulets of the Zuari River. This enables the locals to store the water during the off-monsoon season.
The stored water is also utilised to cultivate paddy downstream of the lake and supports fishing and recreation. While during the monsoons the sluice gate is opened and the water is released which changes the character of the lake into a marshland.
During this time, the marshland is also utilised to grow paddy. This lake is habitat for notable faunal species include Threskiornis melanocephalus (Black-headed ibis), Alcedoatthis (Common kingfisher), Hirundo smithii (Wire-tailed swallow), Metopidius indicus (Bronze-winged jacana), Haliastur indus (Brahminykite), Ardea intermedia (Intermediate egret), Vanellus indicus (Red-wattled lapwing), Microcarbo niger (Little cormorant) and Dendrocygna javanica (Lesser whistling duck).
