Pakistan’s permanent and ephemeral wetlands are globally significant in two ways: first, in
terms of the intrinsic value of their indigenous biodiversity and secondly, as an acute
example of the poverty/subsistence-use nexus that constitutes one of the most
fundamental threats to biodiversity worldwide. The high global significance of Pakistan’s
wetlands is attributable to the diversity of species that they support. In all, eighteen
threatened species of wetlands dependent mammals are found in the country including
the endemic Punjab Urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis) and Indus River Dolphin (Platanista
minor). Further, twenty threatened bird species are supported by Pakistan’s wetlands in
addition to twelve reptiles and two endemic species of amphibians. Pakistan’s wetlands
also support between 191-198 indigenous freshwater fish species (including fifteen
endemics) and a total of 788 marine and estuarine fish species. The high altitude
wetlands, characterised by sites such as Karumbar Lake, situated at an elevation of
4,150 m, and Saucer Lake, at 4,250 m on the Deosai Plains, represent a relatively uniquecategory of alpine wetlands that is confined to the Himalaya, Hindukush and Karakoram
mountain cordilleras.