A Ramsar wetland of 1990, floating mats called phumdis and a catchment of 4,947 sq km: Loktak Lake

Background

The appeal on Manipur's natural assets at the opening of the BRICS Sustainable Lifestyle Week at Imphal this week turns attention to the State's great lake. Loktak is the largest natural freshwater lake in northeastern India and was designated a Ramsar wetland in 1990. It is oval in shape, about 26 km long and 13 km wide, and its depth runs from 0.5 m to 4.58 m with an average of 2.7 m. Fourteen hills stand in it, mostly in the south, among them Sendra, Ithing and Thanga. Its catchment covers 4,947 sq km, about 22 per cent of the State, and local people call it the lifeline of Manipur. Its characteristic ecosystem is the phumdi, a floating mat of soil, vegetation and organic matter that can reach about eight feet in thickness, with roughly one fifth above water and four fifths below. The lake holds the richest rotifer diversity of any aquatic ecosystem in the Indian subcontinent, with 120 species recorded.