“Yaya Tso” declared as Ladakh's first Biodiversity Heritage Site

Tags: Environment National News

Recently Yaya Tso has been declared as the first Biodiversity Heritage Site of Ladakh.

An overview of the news:

• Yaya Tso is a lake situated at an altitude of 4,820 metres in Ladakh which is known as the paradise of birds.

• It is a nesting site for birds and animals such as bar-headed goose, black-necked stork and Brahminy duck. It is one of the highest breeding grounds of black-necked stork in India.

• Yaya Tso Lake has been declared as the first Biodiversity Heritage Site of Ladakh under Biodiversity Act by Chumathang Village Panchayat, Biodiversity Management Committee in association with Secure Himalaya Project.

Secure Himalaya Project:

• It is a scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.

• It was launched in the year 2017 in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

• This is a 6 year project and will be functional till the year 2023.

• The main objective of this project is to conserve snow leopards in the area.

• Under this project, 4 Himalayan states of Jammu and Kashmir (now Union Territory), Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim come.

Biodiversity Heritage Site:

• Biodiversity Heritage Sites are areas that contain unique, vulnerable ecosystems in terrestrial, coastal and inland waters and wild species with rich biodiversity, as well as endemic, rare, threatened and keystone species.

• As per Section 37 of the Biological Diversity Act, State Governments are empowered to notify, in the Official Gazette, areas of biodiversity importance as Biodiversity Heritage Sites, in consultation with local bodies.

India's first BHS:

• India's first Biodiversity Heritage Site was declared in 2007 at Nallur Tamarind Grove in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

• Recently the Tamil Nadu government has declared Arittapatti in Melur block of Madurai district as Tamil Nadu's first and India's 35th Biodiversity Heritage Site.

Recently added 5 BHS:

• Debari or Chabimura in Tripura (September 2022)

• Betling Shib in and around Tripura (September 2022)

• Hejong Tortoise Lake in Assam (August 2022)

• Borjuli Wild Rice Site in Assam (August 2022)

• Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh (July 2022)