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Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena launched a project on 13 September 2026 to revive Tso Kar, a high-altitude salt lake in the Changthang region.
Tso Kar has shrunk by almost 70% in a decade, from about 11,000 acres to about 3,200 acres.
The plan diverts an average of 132 cusecs (about 320 million litres a day) of unused glacier water from the Rupsho Kharnak stream, 11 km away.
The water flows through three natural depressions (270, 24 and 10 acres) that will hold about 1,230 million litres and form three new freshwater wetlands.
Tso Kar Wetland Complex became India's 42nd Ramsar site in 2020 and is a key breeding ground of the black-necked crane.
Tso Kar lies in the Changthang plateau of eastern Ladakh at over 4,500 m. The complex pairs the saline Tso Kar in the north with the freshwater Startsapuk Tso in the south. Tso Moriri, Ladakh's first Ramsar site (2002), lies in the same Changthang region.
Signed at Ramsar, Iran; India became a party in 1982. Tso Kar Wetland Complex was listed as a Wetland of International Importance on 17 November 2020 (India's 42nd Ramsar site and Ladakh's second, after Tso Moriri).
Launched and is carrying out the Tso Kar revival project
Lists the Tso Kar basin as an A1-category Important Bird Area and a staging site on the Central Asian Flyway
Tso Kar Wetland Complex designated India's 42nd Ramsar site
Ladakh declares black-necked crane its state bird and snow leopard its state animal
Revival project conceived during LG Saxena's visit to Tso Kar
20 cusecs of Rupsho Kharnak water diverted to the first depression
Project formally launched
Prelims > Environment > Ramsar sites & wetlands; GS Paper III > Conservation
General Awareness > Geography > Lakes of India
Consider the following pairs: Wetland/Lake : Location 1. Hokera Wetland : Punjab 2. Renuka Wetland : Himachal Pradesh 3. Rudrasagar Lake : Tripura 4. Sasthamkotta Lake : Tamil Nadu How many pairs given above are correctly matched?
Answer: Only two pairs
A landlocked lake with salt concentration well above that of seawater; Tso Kar's salt crust gives it the name 'White Lake'.
A wetland listed as internationally important under the 1971 Ramsar Convention.
Cubic foot per second, a unit of water flow.