Biosphere reserves of India

MAB Biosphere Reserves in India

The Indian government has established 17 Biosphere Reserves of India, (categories roughly corresponding to IUCN Category V Protected areas), which protect larger areas of natural habitat (than a National Park or Animal Sanctuary), and often include one or more National Parks and/or preserves, along buffer zones that are open to some economic uses. Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who inhabit these regions, and their ways of life.

Seven of the seventeen biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list.

1. Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, 2000
2. Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve, 2001
3. Sundarbans national park, 2001
4. Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, 2004
5. Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, 2009
6. Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve, 2009
7. Simlipal Biosphere Reserve, 2009

The above two along with Manas Biosphere Reserve are among the 22 new sites recently added by UNESCO to its World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Their inclusion raises the number of Indian sites on the World list to seven, from a total of 15 Biosphere Reserves across the subcontinent. In 2009, India designated Cold Desert of Himachal Pradesh as a Biosphere Reserve. And on September 20th, 2010, Ministry of Environment and Forests designated Seshachalam Hills as another Biosphere Reserve taking the count to number of such designated areas to 17. Now, India has 17 Biosphere reserves.

List of Biosphere Reserves

Biosphere reserves of India (area wise)

	Year	Name	Location	State	Type	Area (km²)
1	2008	Great Rann of Kutch	Part of Kutch, Rajkot and Surendranagar Districts	Gujarat	Desert	12454
2	1989	Gulf of Mannar	Indian part of Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka	Tamil Nadu	Coasts	10500
3	1989	Sunderbans	Part of delta of Ganges and Barahamaputra river system	West Bengal	Gangetic Delta	9630
4	2009	Cold Desert	Pin Valley National Park and surroundings;Chandratal and Sarchu & Kibber Wildlife Sancturary	Himachal Pradesh	Western Himalayas	7770
5	1988	Nanda Devi	Parts of Chamoli District, Pithoragarh District & Bageshwar District	Uttarakhand	West Himalayas	5860
6	1986	Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve	Part of Waynad, Nagarhole, Bandipur and Mudumalai, Nilambur, Silent Valley and Siruvani Hills	Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka	Western Ghats	5520
7	1998	Dehang-Dibang	Part of Siang and Dibang Valley	Arunachal Pradesh	East Himalayas	5112
8	1999	Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve	Parts of Betul District, Hoshangabad District and Chhindwara District	Madhya Pradesh	Semi-Arid	4926
9	2010	Seshachalam Hills	Seshachalam Hill Ranges covering parts of Chittoor and Kadapa districts	Andhra Pradesh	Eastern Ghats	4755.997
10	1994	Simlipal	Part of Mayurbhanj district	Orissa	Deccan Peninsula	4374
11	2005	Achanakamar - Amarkantak	Part of Annupur, Dindori and Bilaspur districts	Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh	Maikala Range	3835
12	1989	Manas	Part of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup and Darrang Districts	Assam	East Himalayas	2837
13	2000	Khangchendzonga	Parts of Kanchanjunga Hills	Sikkim	East Himalayas	2620
14	2001	Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve	Neyyar, Peppara and Shenduruny Wildlife Sanctuary and their adjoining areas	Kerala, Tamil Nadu	Western ghats	1828
15	1989	Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve	Southern most islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Islands	885
16	1988	Nokrek	Part of Garo Hills	Meghalaya	East Himalayas	820
17	1997	Dibru-Saikhowa	Part of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts	Assam	East Himalayas	765

Potential Sites for Biosphere Reserves

Following is the list of potential sites for Biosphere Reserves as selected by Ministry of Forests and Environment:-

1. Namdapha, Arunachal Pradesh
2. Thar desert, Rajasthan
3. Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
4. Kaziranga, Assam
5. Kanha, Madhya Pradesh
6. North Islands of Andaman Andaman & Nicobar
7. Abujmarh, Madhya Pradesh
8. Chintapalli, Andhra Pradesh
9. Lakshadweep Islands, Lakshadweep
10. Singbhum

See also

• List of Protected areas in India
• Protected areas of India

References

• Wildlife Institute of India webpage on India's Biosphere Reserves
• United Nations List of National Parks and Protected Areas: India (1993)
• [h_network/index.htm Ministry of Forests and Environment Protected Areas website]
• Ministry of Environment a saaale nd Forests