Littoral and Swamp Forests

India has a rich variety of wetland habitats. There are coastal lagoons and tidal marshes, mangroves and swamp forests, and several smaller depressions which support fresh water and half-fresh water habitats.

These diverse systems support a wealth of animals and plants, many of which cannot be seen anywhere else in the country.

Two sites — Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur) are protected as water-fowl habitats under the Convention of Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention).

The country’s wetlands have been grouped into eight categories, viz.

1. the reservoirs of the Deccan Plateau in the south together with the lagoons and other wetlands of the southern west coast.
2. the vast saline expanses of Rajasthan, Gujarat and the Gulf of Kachchh
3. freshwater lakes and reservoirs from Gujarat eastwards through Rajasthan (Keoladeo National Park) and Madhya Pradesh.
4. the delta wetlands and lagoons of India’s east coast (Chilika Lake).
5. the freshwater marshes of the Gangetic Plain.