Wetlands of Asia and other regions

Anzali Lagoon (تالاب انزلی)

Anzali Lagoon (Mordāb-e Anzalī, تالاب انزلی) is a Caspian coastal freshwater lagoon in Gilan, Iran, a 1975 Ramsar site on the Montreux Record, shrinking from ~258 km2 (1930) toward projected seasonal desiccation by 2058.

Ashtamudi Wetland

Ashtamudi Wetland (Ashtamudi Lake), a 61.4 km² brackish Ramsar estuary (site 1204, designated 2002) in Kollam, Kerala, India; second-largest Kerala wetland, home of India's first MSC-certified clam fishery, facing pollution, salinity rise, and shrinking area.

Baie d'Ad-Dakhla

Baie d'Ad-Dakhla (Dakhla Bay) is a 37 km Ramsar wetland (site 1470, 2005) on Morocco's Atlantic Sahara, the country's second most important waterbird wintering site, with Zostera noltii beds and over 120 mollusc species.

Bangweulu

Bangweulu, "where the water meets the sky," is a Zambian wetland system of Lake Bangweulu, swamps, and floodplains in the upper Congo basin, drained by the Luapula River, home to the endemic black lechwe and shoebill, a Ramsar site co-managed since 2008.

Bangweulu - Mweru

Bangweulu - Mweru is a freshwater ecoregion covering the lakes and swamps of the Bangweulu and Mweru systems in southeastern DRC and northeastern Zambia, with rich endemic fauna.

Bangweulu Swamps

The Bangweulu Swamps, meaning "where the water meets the sky," are permanent swamps and seasonally flooded grasslands in northeastern Zambia, home to the endangered black lechwe.

Busanga Swamps

Located in Zambia's northwest near Kafue National Park, Busanga Swamps is a permanent wetland complex in the Lufupa River basin. It is a Ramsar site covering 2,000 km.

Chilika Lake (ଚିଲିକା ହ୍ରଦ)

Chilika Lake (ଚିଲିକା ହ୍ରଦ), Asia's largest brackish water lagoon, lies on Odisha's coast in India. India's first Ramsar site (1981), it was restored by a new sea mouth opened in 2000, reviving fisheries and migratory bird habitat.

Chott de Zehrez Gharbi

Chott de Zehrez Gharbi (Zahrez Gharbi), Ramsar site 1295 in Djelfa, Algeria, designated 2003; a 52,200 ha endorheic saline depression on the high plateaus, important for waterbirds, halophytes, salt production, and grazing.

Chott Ech Chergui

Chott Ech Chergui, a large endorheic salt basin on Algeria's High Plateaus; Ramsar site 1052 (2001, 855,500 ha); second largest chott in North Africa, with thermal springs and migratory waterbirds.

Dasht-e Nawar

Dasht-e Nawar (Dašt-e Nāwor, "plain of the lake") is a 3,100 m high basin with a brackish lake about 60 km west of Ghazni, Afghanistan, known for Paleolithic sites, Afghanistan's only obsidian source, destroyed Kushan trilingual inscriptions, and a lithium-bearing playa.

Don Hoi Lot

Don Hoi Lot (ดอนหอยหลอด) is a Ramsar-listed wetland of sandbars and mudflats at the Mae Klong River mouth in Samut Songkhram Province, Thailand, designated a Wetland of International Importance in 2001.

Gambie-Koulountou

Gambie-Koulountou (Ramsar Site 1578) is a 368,193-hectare wetland in Boké region, Guinea, on the Senegal border, covering the Koulountou River floodplain, the Gambia River's main tributary, designated 14 November 2005.

Gavkhouni (گاوخونی)

Gavkhouni (گاوخونی), also Gavkhuni or Gavkhooni, is a shallow saline Ramsar wetland (476 km2, designated 1975) east of Isfahan, Iran, terminal to the Zayandeh-Rud River, now almost completely dry from over-abstraction and drought.

Govater Bay and Hur-e-Bahu

Govater Bay and Hur-e-Bahu is a 75,000-hectare Ramsar wetland in southeast Iran on the Gulf of Oman coast, designated in 1999, home to marsh crocodiles and Dalmatian pelicans.

Grande Sebkha d'Oran

Grande Sebkha d'Oran (Great Sebkha of Oran) is a 56,870-ha closed saline depression south of Oran, Algeria; Ramsar site 1055 since 2001, an IBA for greater flamingo, fed by a 1,890 km² endorheic basin with brine near 180 g/L chlorides.

Gur Swamps

The Gur Swamps are the wetlands of the Gur River, an Amur tributary in Khabarovsk Krai in the Russian Far East, protected within the Gursky zakaznik for fish conservation.

Hammar Marsh

Hammar Marsh (Hawr al-Hammar), one of the three Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq south of the Euphrates; drained in the 1990s, reflooded after 2003, Ramsar site since 2014.

Hawizeh Marsh

Hawizeh Marsh (Haur Al-Hawizeh), a transboundary Mesopotamian wetland on the Iraq–Iran border (Iranian part Haur Al-Azim), Iraq's first Ramsar site (2007, 137,700 ha), Montreux Record 2010, degraded by dams and drought.

Hong Kong Wetland Park (香港湿地公园)

Hong Kong Wetland Park (香港湿地公园), opened 20 May 2006 in Tin Shui Wai, is a 61-hectare ecotourism and conservation facility with a 10,000 m² Visitor Centre and 60-hectare Wetland Reserve built on an ecological mitigation area.

Inner Niger Delta

The Inner Niger Delta (Delta intérieur du Niger) is a vast inland floodplain in central Mali, defined by the spreading Niger and Bani rivers between Djenné and Tombouctou.

Khor Abu Habil Inner Delta

Khor Abu Habil Inner Delta: Sudanese inland wetland (Ramsar Site no. 2485, 946,409 ha, designated 10 April 2022) 400 km southwest of Khartoum, formed by a seasonal river from the Nuba Mountains, with mayas pools and migratory waterbirds.

Luangwa Flood Plains

Luangwa Flood Plains: 250,000 ha Ramsar site (no. 1660, designated 2 February 2007) in Eastern Province, Zambia, along the unregulated Luangwa River; spans South Luangwa, North Luangwa, and Luambe national parks and three game management areas, with over 50 mammal and 400 bird species.

Mai Po Marshes (米埔湿地)

Mai Po Marshes (米埔湿地) are a 380-hectare wetland nature reserve at Inner Deep Bay, Hong Kong, managed by WWF since 1983, Ramsar-listed in 1995, famed for gei wai shrimp ponds, mangroves, and wintering waterbirds including the black-faced spoonbill.

Mesopotamian Marshes (أهوار العراق)

The Mesopotamian Marshes (أهوار العراق), also called the Iraqi Marshlands or Ahwar, are a large wetland system in southern Iraq where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet, the largest freshwater wetland in the Middle East.

Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary

Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary (Nalsarovar, નાળ સરોવર) is a 12,000-hectare shallow freshwater lake and Ramsar site (no. 2078, designated 2012) in Gujarat, India, the largest natural wetland of the Thar Desert province and a Central Asia Flyway stopover hosting over 200 bird species.

Neiriz Lakes & Kamjan Marshes

Neiriz Lakes & Kamjan Marshes (Neyriz Lakes and Kamjan Marshes), Ramsar site no. 39 in Fars, Iran, designated 1975: saline Lakes Bakhtegan and Tashk plus freshwater Kamjan Marshes, 108,000 ha, on the Montreux Record since 1990 and shrinking from drainage, dams, and drought.