Gogabeel Lake (86.63 ha) in Katihar district, a conservation and community reserve, conserved and managed by the local community has been added as a new Ramsar site. Gogabeel, an ox-bow lake in Bihar’s Katihar district, in fact, earlier has been declared as the state’s first ‘Community Reserve’.
Now, Bihar has six Ramsar sites and stands at third position in the country. The lake is used wisely by the local community for livelihood. With this recognition, the total no. of Ramsar sites in the country rises to 94, addition of 67 sites in last 11 years, covering an area of 13,60,805 hectares.
Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav said, “With PM Shri @narendramodiji leading the way for environmental conservation, India continues to be the first in Asia and third in the world in terms of total number of Ramsar sites in a country, demonstrating the importance laid on these wetlands of international importance for national and global biodiversity, climate resilience, ecotourism, and sustainable livelihoods of local communities.”