[4] Keoladeo Ghana National Park also features a human-made regulated wetland, providing a needed source of hydration for animals in this drier region of the subcontinent.

The reserve also protects Bharatpur settlements from flash floods and provides ample pastures for the locals' cattle and livestock.

The 29 km2 (11 sq mi) reserve is locally known as Ghana, a natural mosaic of dry grasslands, woodlands, swamps and seasonal wetlands located just on the eastern edge of terrain that eventually becomes arid desert.

When the criteria were updated in 2005, the park fell under Criteria (x) which states that to be conferred the status of World Heritage, the site should "contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-site conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation".

One third of the Keoladeo National Park is wetland with mounds, dykes, and open water with or without submerged or emergent plants.

This alternate wetting and drying helps to maintain the ecology of the freshwater swamp, ideal for water-fowl and resident water birds.

Arrangement to pump water from deep tube wells to fill small depressions to save seeds, spores and other aquatic life also exist.

[9] In 2007 and 2008, several active attempts were made to eradicate the non-native mesquite Prosopis juliflora and some invasive members of the asteraceous genus Cineraria.

[8] Macro invertebrates such as worms, insects, and mollusks, though more abundant in variety and numbers than any other group of organisms, are present mostly in aquatic habitats.

Keoladeo National Park is an important wintering ground for large numbers of migrant birds; the most common waterfowl are gadwall, shoveler, common teal, cotton teal, tufted duck, knob-billed duck, bar-headed goose, little cormorant, great cormorant, Indian shag, ruff, painted stork, white spoonbill, Asian open-billed stork, oriental ibis, darter, common sandpiper, wood sandpiper, green sandpiper, greater flamingos, spot-billed pelican, great white pelican, demoiselle crane and sarus crane.

Ornithologically, the park assumes significance in two respects: One because of its strategic location as a staging ground for migratory waterfowl arriving in the Indian subcontinent before dispersing to various regions.

Others birds present include warblers, Old World babblers, bee-eaters, bulbuls, buntings, chats, painted francolins and quails, Indian grey hornbill and Marshall's iora.

[10] The absence of grazing is causing management problems as vegetation, principally Paspalum distichum, a perennial amphibious grass, blocks up the channels.

The Rajasthan government has rejected a proposal from the Bombay Natural History Society to allow limited grazing, since this would conflict with the law.

High levels of pollutants in Ajan Bund are believed to be responsible for the increasing number of piscivorous birds seen in a dazed state and unable to fly.

Although the project did not yield the desired results, the successful survival of introduced cranes in the park has given sufficient hope to develop a viable resident population in the future.

[12] A proposal for water supply to Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur was forwarded by the Government of Rajasthan seeking assistance from Planning Commission as advised and approved by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) vide their letter dated 10.04.2008.

The project thus covered diversion of water during monsoon through underground pipes with lifting arrangements over a length of 16 km from the off-take point of Goverdhan drain near Santruk village.