One lakh migratory birds arrive at Pong Dam lake

• Nearly one lakh migratory birds have reached in manmade Maharana Pratap Sagar Lake or Pong Dam.

• Most of these birds migrate every year to this lake in the month of October and continue to arrive till February. 

• These birds fly from trans-Himalaya region of Tibet, Central Asia, Russia and Siberia.

• This time also birds like Bar Headed Geese, Pintail and Common Pochard in thousands can be seen flying over the lake area.

• Maharana Pratap Sagar, also known as Pong Reservoir or Pong Dam Lake was created in 1975, by building the highest earthfill dam in India on the Beas River in the wetland zone of the Siwalik Hills of the Kangra district of the state of Himachal Pradesh.

• The reservoir or the lake is a well-known wildlife sanctuary and one of the 25 international wetland sites declared in India by the Ramsar Convention.

• The Pong Reservoir and Gobindsagar Reservoir are the two most important fishing reservoirs in the Himalayan foothills of Himachal Pradesh.

• The entire reservoier is declared as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1986 by the Himachal Pradesh government

• The reservoir is bounded by the rugged Dhauladhar mountain range, the low foothills of the Himalaya on the northern edge of the Indo-Gangetic plains, and the mountain streams cutting through valleys.

• Pong Dam Lake was declared a Ramsar Wetland site on account of its rich waterfowl diversity for conservation and sustainable use of the wetland.

• It has attracted migratory birds from the plains of India and Central Asian countries and Siberia.

• The reservoir peripheral land area has mixed perennial and deciduous pine forests on hills.

• Eucalyptus trees have also been grown in the area.

• A 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) belt from the periphery of the lake has been declared as buffer zone for the management of the bird sanctuary.

What is Ramsar Convention?

• The Ramsar Convention  is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value.

  A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem.The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetationof aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil

• The convention was developed and adopted by participating nations at a meeting in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran, on February 2, 1971, hosted by the Iranian Department of Environment, and came into force on December 21, 1975.

• The country with the highest number of Sites is the United Kingdom at 170.

• The state parties meet every three years as the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP).

• The Ramsar Convention works closely with five other organisations known as International Organization Partners (IOPs). These are Birdlife International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Wetlands International and WWF International.