Tanguar Haor is Bangladesh's leading internationally significant freshwater wetland. Tanguar haor, (also called Tangua haor), located in the Dharmapasha and Tahirpur upazilas of Sunamganj district in Bangladesh.
The Haor territory spans over the two sub-districts of Tahirpur and Dharmapasha in the Sunamganj District, covering 9,727 hectares and supporting at least 60,000 people.
It is a unique wetland ecosystem of national importance and has come into international focus. The area of Tanguar haor including 46 villages within the haor is about 100 km2 of which 2,802.36 ha2 is wetland. It is the source of livelihood for more than 40,000 people.
The livelihoods of the poor community largely depend on the natural resources of Tanguar Haor and hence its social and economic importance is high.
The Government of Bangladesh declared Tanguar haor as an Ecologically Critical Area in 1999 considering its critical condition as a result of overexploitation of its natural resources. In 2000, the hoar basin was declared a Ramsar site - wetland of international importance.
With this declaration, the Government is committed to preserve its natural resources and has taken several steps for protection of this wetland.
Tanguar haor plays an important role in fish production as it functions as a 'mother fishery' for the country. Every winter the haor is home to about 200 types of migratory birds. The haor is an important source of fish. In 1999-2000, the government earned 7,073,184 takas as revenue just from fisheries of the haor.
There are more than 140 species of fresh water fish in the haor. The more predominant among them are: ayir, gang magur, baim, tara, gutum, gulsha, tengra, titna, garia, beti, kakia etc. Hijal, karach, gulli, balua, ban tulsi, nalkhagra and other freshwater wetland trees are in this haor.
Plant species like Hizol (Barringtonia acutangula), Clematis cadmia, Crataeva nurvala, Euryale ferox, Nelumbo nucifera, Ottelia alismoides, Oxystelma secamone var. secamone, Pongamia pinnata, Rosa clinophylla, and Typha species are threatened, rapidly disappearing and becoming rare.