Shatsk Lakes

lake Svityaz
geese chicks
wild geese
swamp
lake Svityaz
Lake Somynets
Concentration of Fulica atra
Lake Svitiaz

Shatsk Lakes

  • Country: 
    Ukraine
  • Site number: 
    775
  • Area: 
    32,850 ha
  • Designation date: 
    28-02-1997
  • Coordinates: 
    51°30'N 23°51'E
Materials presented on this website, particularly maps and territorial information, are as-is and as-available based on available data and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Overview

Shatsk Lakes, bordering both Poland and Belarus, is the largest Ukrainian lake complex, with 23 lakes separated by peat bogs, meadows and forests. The Site is one of the largest and best preserved wetland in the Polissia region, and is very important for waterbirds, hosting approximately 75 different species and 41,000 individuals, which use the lakes as stopovers during their migration for feeding and moulting. Many of these species are nationally or internationally threatened, such as the ferruginous duck (Aythya nyroca) and great snipe (Gallinago media), and the globally vulnerable aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola) and lesser white fronted goose (Anser erythropus). The wetland is also important for other vertebrates, of which 365 species have been recorded, and for plants, with a total of 825 species. It supports 22 nationally threatened plant species, most of them associated with bogs. Human practices include forestry, fishing, recreation, and agriculture including livestock grazing and haymaking. Hunting is forbidden in the area. The main threats to the Site include the decrease in rainwater inputs during recent years, and the overgrowing of shrubs in the peat bogs.

Administrative region: 
Shatsk District, Volynska Region

  • Global international designation: 
    • UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
  • National legal designation: 
    • National Nature Park - Shatsk National Nature park
  • Last publication date: 
    26-08-2020