Yaya Tso to be Ladakh’s First Biodiversity Heritage Site

February 6, 2023

Yaya Tso is a lake in Ladakh and is known as the Bird’s Paradise. The lake is at an altitude of 4,820 kilometres. The lake is a popular breeding site for black-necked cranes. The lake was recently announced as the “Biodiversity Heritage Site”. It is the first biodiversity heritage site of Ladakh.

Who declared?

Biodiversity Management Committee
Panchayat of Chumathang Village
SECURE Himalaya

Together declared the lake a Biodiversity Heritage site.

Biodiversity Heritage Sites

A site shall be notified as BHS by any State Government under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The site should be under its jurisdiction. The BHS are sites with high endemism, domesticated species, and rare and threatened species.

What is SECURE Himalaya?

The project mainly aims to conserve Snow leopards in the region. Also, it addresses threatened livelihood, habitat degradation, and illegal wildlife trade. Funds for the project comes from Global Environment Facility.

Section 37 of Biological Diversity Act, 2002

The Biodiversity Heritage sites are declared based on the provisions of Section 37 in the act. The act says that these areas a fragile and unique. Any landform can be tagged as a biodiversity heritage site. It can be coastal, hilly regions, marine ecosystems, inland waters, etc.
The State Governments shall create regulations under the act
Section 3 of the act gives powers to the state government to rehabilitate communities in the areas to be notified as Biodiversity Heritage Sites.

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