Designated on 10 June 2010 in Bonn, Germany
Country: Pakistan
Coordinates: 30042’N, 70050’E
Area: 6,567 ha
Overview: 20 km northwest of Kot Adu, Muzaffargarh District, Punjab Province. It is the large reservoir created by the Taunsa Barrage on theIndusRiver, constructed for irrigation purposes. Vegetation includes riverine forests and numerous species of aquatic plants. Human activities include commercial fishing, livestock rearing, irrigation, reed harvesting for making mats, recreation, and, in adjacent areas, agriculture, livestock grazing, and harvesting forest products for fuel wood and to make baskets and mats.
Importance for the Siberian Crane. It is a potential migration stopover where Siberian Cranes might have a short rest along with other cranes and other waterbirds. Traditional hunting and trapping of live cranes on theIndusRiver and its tributaries is a real threat for the Siberian Crane.
Importance for other waterbirds. This is along a migration route for Eurasian and Demoiselle cranes, though there are no traditional stopovers.
The site is an important migration stopover and staging and wintering area for waterfowl — notably, Anatidae (ducks, geese, swans, etc.) and shorebirds such as Bar-headed Geese, Eurasian Spoonbills, Pallas’s Fish-eagles, Spotted Redshanks, Jerdon’s Babblers, and Sind Sparrows. Marbled Teals, an indigenous duck species, are reported to breed in the wetlands of this area. The reservoir also supports a good population of the endemicIndus dolphins.
Map of Taunsa Barrage Wildlife Sanctuary [PDF 806 KB]
Ramsar Site Information Sheet [PDF 59 KB]