This publication will serve to be useful reference material for policymakers, implementing agencies, environmentalists and those who enjoy the beauty and diversity of India’s water bodies.

Lakes are not only a source of water and livelihood for many of our populations, but they also support a large proportion of our biodiversity. The wetlands, shallower peripheral areas of large lakes, provide breeding and nesting grounds to huge population of birds, many of which migrate to India from as far north as Siberia.

However, over the past few decades, lakes and wetlands have become degraded, mainly due to the anthropogenic pressures in their catchment areas. The resultant human waste and soil erosion has led to siltation and eutrophication of our lakes. Recognizing the threat to our water bodies, the MoEF has formulated and implemented the National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) and the National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP).

The NLCP has supported the conservation and restoration of over sixty lakes in fourteen states with the help of departments and agencies of the State Governments. One of the recent successes is from Pushkar lake where a combination of good rainfalls and the feeder channels constructed under the NLCP ensured that the lake filled up with water after a two year dry spell.  

The report is divided into the following sections – (1) Introduction (2) Lake versus Wetlands (3) Lakes in India (4) Human Interactions with Lakes (5) State of Degradation (6) Conservation and Restoration (7) Technologies for Lake Restoration (8) National Lake Conservation Plan (9) Legal and Regulatory Framework (10) International Organisations (11) 12^th World Lake Conference (12) Lake Conservation Projects approved under the NLCP (13) Lakes covered under NLCP and (14) National Wetland Conservation Programme.

The report can be downloaded here -