Wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world; they are next only to tropical rain forests and coral reefs in terms of their richness in biodiversity. The wetlands of Asia have played an important role in sustaining large populations and improving great civilizations. About one third of world's wetlands are located in Asia, out of which 120 million hectares are internationally important wetlands.

What is a wetland?
Wetland is a place where water and land meet each other, that is, it is the transition zone between land and water. According to the Ramsar convention, "for the purpose of this convention wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres". Thus, according to this definition, lakes, rivers, marshes, mangroves, coral reefs, tidelands, rice fields are all wetlands.

What is the Ramsar Convention?
The Ramsar Convention (the Convention on wetlands) is an intergovernmental treaty, which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. The convention was adopted and named after its birth place, the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975. Ramsar Convention is the only global environmental treaty that deals with a particular ecosystem and member countries cover all geographic regions of the planet. The convention's mission is "conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and natural actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world". There are presently 141 Contracting Parties to the convention, with 1388 wetland sites, totaling 122.7 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance (as of November 2004).

Wetlands of Asia
Asia has 25 Contracting Parties (25 countries) with 159 Ramsar sites, totaling about 9,860,000 hectares (as of November 2004). The Contracting Parties are: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

India has 19 Ramsar sites; they are: Ashtamudi wetland, Bhitarkanika Mangroves, Bhoj wetland, Chilika Lake, Deepor Beel, East Calcutta wetlands, Harike Lake, Kanjili, Keoladeo National Park, Kolleru Lake, Loktak Lake, Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary, Pong Dam Lake, Roopar, Sambhar Lake, Sasthamkotta Lake, Tsomoriri, Vembanad-Kol wetland, and Wular lake. Of these Loktak lake and Keoladeo National Park are very important because of their richness in biodiversity and ecosystems' fragility. They are listed in the Montreux record as these wetlands need immediate conservational efforts.

Loktak Lake: our only Rramsar site
Loktak lake (24º25'N-24º42N and 93º 46'E-93º 55'E), a Ramsar site (recently added to the Montreux record), is the largest natural lake in eastern India. To Lord Irwin (the former Governor-general of British India), it is the "Jewel of the Switzerland of the Subcontinent." Sir A. O. Hume was the first ornithologist who visited the Loktak Lake (in 1888) and reported about 65 species of birds from the lake alone. To Hume, Loktak is the only lake in the subcontinent, which is comparable to the Lake Manchur in Dadu district of Pakistan, in terms of size, freshness, and natural beauty (Charles Chubb, 1888). But we do not know how they will sing of it, after more than hundred 100) years of continuous negligences and non-stop exploitations.

Loktak Lake lies on the southern part of the Manipur basin. It's area is approximately 286 sq.kms at 768.5 m above mean sea level. The lake is exceptionally very rich in biodiversity, which includes a large number of migratory birds in winter and a number of fishes and plants. The most important characteristic of this lake is the phoomdi. The phoomdi is a Manipuri word meaning the floating mats of vegetation, which consists of many plant species including reeds; Phragmites karka being the most dominant species in the national park. The largest among this phoomdi is the famous Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP), the last refuge of the highly endangered Manipuri deer, the Brow-antlered deer (Cervus eldi eldi) locally known as the Sangai. Recent counting of the deer in its wild habitat, that is, in this world famous floating national park shows c. 150 deers. In recognition of its rich biological diversity, the Loktak Lake was declared as a Ramsar site (a wetland of international importance) in 1990. Later on, it was included in the Montreux record along with some other Ramsar sites of India, including the Chilika Lake. Recently, Chilika Lake was removed from the list as the conditions of the lake had improved a lot after proper management and 'wise use' programmes. Wetalnd International has recently come up with a management project/ for improving the environmental conditions of the lake. There has been a discussion/talk on starting a project on restoration ecology relating to lake, by many organizations such as Wetland International, South Asia, Loktak Development Authority (Manipur), etc. As regard to this restoration programmme of this lake, one could consider the habitat heterogeneity of the lake. Habitat heterogeneity has been suggested as a key to improving biodiversity of many landscapes, including lakes. Recent studies on the birds biodiversity of the lake, carried out by the author describes the habitat heterogeneity of the Loktak Lake and how these have been changing due to many factors including the anthropogenic factors. The study also discusses the role of phoomdi proliferation in the decrease of the habitat heterogeneity of the lake. It also mentioned the development of many dyke-fish ponds near the lake and its effect on the overall biodiversity of the lake. However, we need to do a lot in order to improve the deteriorating conditions of the lake so that the overall biodiversity of the lake is improved. Studies on habitat heterogeneity is very much imperative as it forms the key to improving the general biodiversity of the lake.