Satkosia spreads along the magnificent gorge over the mighty river Mahanadi in Odisha. Established in 1976 as a wildlife sanctuary, Satkosia supports a rich ecosystem, representing a diverse population of floral and faunal species. The name Satkosia originates from two words, sat meaning seven and kos meaning two miles, indicating the length of the gorge as 14 miles or 22.4 km. The area was declared as Satkosia Tiger Reserve in 2007, comprising two adjoining wildlife sanctuaries, the Satkosia Gorge sanctuary and Baisipalli sanctuary. The wetland is spread over 4 districts namely Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh, and Boudh, and has an area of 98196.72 ha. The area is also a part of the Mahanadi elephant reserve. Satkosia is the meeting point of two biogeographic regions of India; the Deccan Peninsula and the Eastern Ghats, contributing immense biodiversity. Satkosia Gorge wetland is a mosaic of marshes and evergreen forests. The permanent freshwater, marshes, and rivers are the major wetland habitat types, which support a variety of plant and animal communities. The forests of these catchments play a vital role in the prevention of the gorge siltation. It also helps in maintaining a specific desirable depth of water crucial for the endangered gharial population and spawning of commercially important carps and prawns species.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it contains a representative, rare, or unique example of a natural or near-natural wetland type found within the appropriate biogeographic region.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbird.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies, species or families, life-history stages, species interactions and/or populations that are representative of wetland benefits and/or values and thereby contributes to global biological diversity.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.

A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of wetland-dependent nonavian animal species.