Glaw Lake Ramsar Site: India’s 101st Wetland of International Importance

The Glaw Lake Ramsar site is India’s hundred and first, and it arrived only two months after the hundredth. In June we wrote about Surha Tal in Uttar Pradesh crossing that round number. Two designations in one quarter is not a coincidence, and the pattern is worth more marks than either site taken alone.

Short answer. Glaw Lake in Arunachal Pradesh has been designated India’s 101st Ramsar Site and the state’s first Wetland of International Importance. It is a pristine freshwater lake inside the Kamlang Tiger Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary in the Eastern Himalayas, fed by perennial mountain streams, supporting more than 150 tree species and 49 orchid species. India’s Ramsar network has grown from 26 sites in 2014 to 101 in 2026.

What the Glaw Lake Ramsar Site Actually Is

• Location. A pristine freshwater lake within the Kamlang Tiger Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, in the Eastern Himalayas.
• Hydrology. Fed by perennial mountain streams and surrounded by dense natural vegetation.
• Biodiversity. More than 150 tree species and 49 orchid species in the wetland and its catchment, recognised as an important biodiversity hotspot.
• Significance. The first wetland in Arunachal Pradesh to receive international recognition.

Two details are worth noticing rather than just memorising.

First, the lake sits inside a tiger reserve. The Ramsar designation therefore layers an international wetland framework on top of an existing national protected area, giving the catchment two forms of protection at once.

Second, the orchid count matters. Orchids are sensitive indicator species, so 49 of them in one catchment is a statement about habitat quality rather than a piece of trivia.

How India’s Ramsar Network Has Grown

Nearly quadrupling the network in twelve years is the single most quotable fact here.

Surha Tal, the hundredth site, was designated on World Environment Day, 5 June 2026. It is an oxbow lake of the Ganga lying on the Central Asian Flyway, and it is covered in the June 2026 current affairs guide.

What Is the Ramsar Convention

Officially the Convention on Wetlands, it is an intergovernmental treaty adopted at Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. It provides a framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources, and UNESCO serves as its depositary. It entered into force for India on 1 February 1982.

The phrase wise use is doing real work in that sentence and is worth explaining in an answer. The Convention does not seek to fence wetlands off from people. It seeks sustainable use that maintains ecological character, which is why fishing communities and local livelihoods remain part of a designated site rather than being excluded from it.

The designation criteria

A wetland can be designated if it satisfies at least one of nine criteria, relating to ecology, botany, zoology, limnology, hydrology, and the protection of threatened species and biodiversity.

Note the logic: one criterion is enough. A site does not need to be outstanding in every respect, which is why the network can include lakes, marshes, mangroves, estuaries and even artificial wetlands under one list. Limnology, for anyone who has not met the word, is the study of inland waters.

The Montreux Record

The Montreux Record is a register, maintained as part of the Ramsar List, of sites where ecological changes have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur because of technological development, pollution or other human interference.

This is the most useful single addition you can make to any wetlands answer, because it shows that designation is not the end of the story. A site can be listed and still deteriorate, and the Record exists precisely to flag that. India has had sites placed on it, which is the honest counterweight to a growing site count.

Why Wetlands Matter

• Water regulation. They recharge groundwater, moderate floods by absorbing peak flows, and sustain dry season river flow.
• Water quality. They filter sediments, nutrients and pollutants, which is why they are sometimes called the kidneys of the landscape.
• Carbon storage. Waterlogged soils slow decomposition, so wetlands store disproportionate amounts of carbon for their area.
• Biodiversity. They support fish, amphibians, migratory birds and specialised plants, often concentrating species far beyond the surrounding landscape.
• Livelihoods. Fisheries, grazing, fodder, reed collection and increasingly tourism depend directly on them.
• Climate resilience. Coastal and inland wetlands buffer storm surges, erosion and drought.

Domestically, the framework is the Wetlands Conservation and Management Rules, 2017, which apply a more restrictive definition than the Convention, explicitly excluding river channels, active paddy fields, municipal drinking water tanks and structures built for aquaculture, salt production, recreation or irrigation.

How This Is Asked in the UPSC ISS Paper

Environment adds one to three parts most years, sitting inside Questions 2 and 3, and biodiversity and its conservation has been asked three times since 2014. Wetlands are a recurring sub topic because they sit at the intersection of water resources, biodiversity and climate adaptation.

Check how often this has been asked

A likely framing: discuss the ecological significance of wetlands and assess India’s performance under the Ramsar Convention.

Model answer skeleton, about 200 words

1. Opening. Glaw Lake in Arunachal Pradesh has become India’s 101st Ramsar Site and the state’s first, taking the network from 26 sites in 2014 to 101 in 2026.
2. The site. A pristine freshwater lake inside the Kamlang Tiger Reserve, fed by perennial streams, with over 150 tree species and 49 orchid species.
3. The Convention. Adopted at Ramsar in 1971, in force for India since 1 February 1982, based on wise use, with nine designation criteria of which one suffices.
4. Ecological functions. Groundwater recharge, flood moderation, pollutant filtration, carbon storage, biodiversity and livelihoods.
5. The honest assessment. India leads Asia in site numbers, but the Montreux Record shows designation alone does not guarantee ecological health, and the 2017 Rules exclude several wetland types from domestic protection.
6. Closing. A rising site count is a real achievement, and the next test is whether ecological character is maintained after designation.

Facts You Must Remember

• Glaw Lake is India’s 101st Ramsar Site and Arunachal Pradesh’s first, in the Kamlang Tiger Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary.
• It supports more than 150 tree species and 49 orchid species, fed by perennial mountain streams.
• India’s network grew from 26 sites in 2014 to 101 in 2026; Surha Tal in Uttar Pradesh was the 100th.
• The Convention was adopted at Ramsar, Iran in 1971, with UNESCO as depositary, and entered into force for India on 1 February 1982.
• A wetland qualifies on at least one of nine criteria covering ecology, botany, zoology, limnology, hydrology and threatened species.
• The Montreux Record lists sites where ecological change has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur.

Value Additions That Lift the Answer

Explain wise use. Sustainable use maintaining ecological character, rather than exclusion of people. It distinguishes the Ramsar approach from strict protected area models.

Note the double protection. Glaw Lake lies inside a tiger reserve, so an international wetland framework now overlays a national protected area, strengthening catchment level management.

Use orchids as an indicator argument. Orchids are sensitive to habitat disturbance, so a high count signals habitat quality rather than merely adding a number.

Contrast the two definitions. The Convention defines wetlands expansively, including shallow marine areas, while India’s 2017 Rules exclude river channels, paddy fields and several artificial structures. That gap is a legitimate critique.

Bring in the flyway. Many Indian sites lie on the Central Asian Flyway, which makes wetland conservation an international obligation rather than a domestic preference.

Two Mistakes to Avoid

Treating designation as protection. Ramsar listing brings recognition and a management obligation, not automatic legal immunity from development. The Montreux Record exists because listed sites do deteriorate, and an answer that misses this reads as uncritical.

Writing only the count. An answer that states 101 sites and stops has given the examiner one number. The marks are in what wetlands do, how designation works and whether ecological character is being maintained.

Following a story beats collecting facts

You now know the 100th and the 101st Ramsar sites and the growth from 26 to 101. That is a trend you can argue with, which is worth far more in a 200 word answer than a single designation.

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What Comes Next

Geography and environment are covered. The next article is the one this month was built around, and for an ISS candidate it is the most directly relevant current affairs topic in three years.

Next: The Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026

Practice. Improve. Repeat.

Sources

Ramsar Convention Secretariat (ramsar.org), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (moef.gov.in), Press Information Bureau (pib.gov.in).