The 77.69-hectare (ha) Lonar lake is part of the 365.16-ha Lonar wildlife sanctuary. Located 500 km from Mumbai and over 90 km from Buldhana city
Lonar crater lake in Buldhana district, 500 kilometres (km) from Mumbai, has been declared Maharashtra’s second Ramsar site. Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention (held for the first time in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971), which aims to halt the worldwide loss of wetlands.
On Thursday, the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands of International Importance announced on its website that Lonar Lake was now a Ramsar site. In January, Maharashtra got its first Ramsar site at Nandur Madhmeshwar, in Nashik.
“Lonar Lake on the Deccan Plateau is an endorheic or closed basin, almost circular in shape, formed by a meteorite impact onto the basalt bedrock. The site includes the lake as well as escarpments, which form the crater walls, and forested zones. The lake is high in salinity and alkalinity… but threatened by household sewage, urban wastewater and by unsustainable tourism,” read the convention’s declaration.