It should be mentioned that the project “National Wetland Inventory and Assessment" was formulated by Space Application Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad, which was approved and funded by Ramesh'a ministry. All wetlands were classified into 19 types and mapped at 1:50,000 scale using latest IRS LISS III images. The database were organized at district level(612 maps), and state/UT level. In addition maps of selected important wetlands like Ramsar sites were prepared with a 5 km buffer area(150 sites).
Total wetland area estimated is 1,52,44,828 ha(15.245 Mha) that is around 4.64 per cent of the geographic area. Excluding the rivers, the total area estimate stands at 10 Mha.
High Altitude Himalayan wetlands nestled in the rugged terrain of Himalayas at different elevation ranges have been mapped for the first time. Total 4703 lakes with 126249 ha area are reported that iye above 3000 m elevation. Chholhamu Lake(102.5 ha) in Sikkim, at 5,486 m elevation is the highest lake mapped. It is the origin of the river Teesta. Pangong Tso in Jammu and Kashmir with 29345 ha area at 4350 m is the largest high altitude lake. Read the full report here.
Source: Desh Gujarat, Ahmedabad.
