PROTECTED AREAS IN INDIA
1. National Parks
1. India currently has 96 national parks, with plans to expand it to 166
2. Oldest National Park: Jim Corbett National Park (1935)
3. Newest National Park: Chandoli National Park, Maharashtra (2004). Part of Sahyadri Tiger Reserve
2. Wildlife Sanctuary
1. India has over 500 wildlife sanctuaries
2. Among these are 28 Tiger Reserves governed by Project Tiger
3. Biosphere Reserves
1. Protect larger areas of natural habitat than National Parks or Wildlife Sanctuaries
2. Often include one or more National Parks inside the Reserve
3. Includes buffer zone that are open for nominal economic use
4. Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna in the Reserve but also to habiting human communities and their ways of life
5. There are 15 Biosphere Reserves in India
6. 7 of the 15 are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves
4. Reserved Forests and Protected Forests
1. Declared by the state governments (unlike Wildlife Sanctuaries or National Parks)
2. These are forested lands where human activity (like hunting, logging, grazing etc) may be permitted on a sustainable basis
3. The key difference between Reserved Forests and Protected Forests is that in Reserved Forests explicit permission is required for such activities whereas in Protected Forests such activities are permitted unless explicitly prohibited
5. Village Forests and Panchayat Forests
1. Forested lands administered by a village or a panchayat on a sustainable basis
2. The flora, fauna and habitat are accorded some degree of protection by the community
6. Private Protected Areas
1. Regions owned by an individual or an organization not affiliated to the government
2. Not legally protected by the government; however, NGO’s and land trust help in conservation
3. Most private protected areas before Independence were used as royal hunting grounds by the Princely States; they were absorbed as Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks following Independence
4. Prominent Private Protected Areas managed by the Wildlife Trust of India include
1. Siju-Rewak Corridor (Garo Hills, Meghalaya): a protected migration corridor between the Siju Wildlife Sanctuary and the Rewak Reserved Forest. Caters to Bengal Tiger, Clouded Leopard and Himalayan Black Bear
2. Tirunelli-Kudrakote Corridor (Kerala): a protected migration corridor for India’s largest elephant population between the Tirunelli Reserved Forest and the Kudrakote Reserved Forest
7. Conservation Areas
1. Large, well-designated areas where landscape conservation is undergoing, and contains different kinds of constituent protected lands as well as privately owned lands
2. These were primarily part of a joint Indo-US project on landscape management and protection. The project ran from 1996 to 2002
BIOSPHERE RESERVES IN INDIA
| S. No. | Reserve | Established | State | Notes |
| 1 | Gyan Bharti Reserve | 2008 | Gujarat | Largest Biosphere Reserve in India |
| 2 | Amarkantak | 2005 | Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh | |
| 3 | Agasthyamalai | 2001 | Kerala, Tamil Nadu | UNESCO World Heritage Site Protects the tiger, Asian Elephant, Nilgiri Tahr Home of the Kanikaran, one of the oldest surviving ancient tribes in the world |
| 4 | Kanchanjunga | 2000 | Sikkim | |
| 5 | Pachmarhi | 1999 | Madhya Pradesh | Notified in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves Leopard, wild boar, muntjac deer, gaur, chital deer, sambar, Rhesus Macaques |
| 6 | Dehang-Debang | 1998 | Arunachal Pradesh | |
| 7 | Dibru-Saikhowa | 1997 | Assam | |
| 8 | Simlipal | 1994 | Orissa | Notified in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves |
| 9 | Gulf of Mannar | 1989 | Tamil Nadu | World Network of Biosphere Reserves Coral Reefs Sharks, Dugongs, Dolphins, Sea Turtles |
| 10 | Sunderbans | 1989 | West Bengal | World Network of Biosphere Reserves UNESCO World Heritage Site (1997) Largest Mangrove forest in the world Home of the Royal Bengal Tiger |
| 11 | Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve | 1989 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | Nicobar scrubfowl, Nicobar long-tailed Macaque, Saltwater crocodile, Giant Leatherback Sea Turtle, Reticulated Python, Giant Robber Crab |
| 12 | Manas | 1989 | Assam | |
| 13 | Nanda Devi | 1988 | Uttarakhand | World Network of Biosphere Reserves UNESCO World Heritage Site |
| 14 | Norkek | 1988 | Meghalaya | World Network of Biosphere Reserves |
| 15 | Nilgiri | 1986 | Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka | World Network of Biosphere Reserves Tiger, Asian Elephant, Nilgiri Tahr Under consideration for UNESCO World Heritage Site |
ENDANGERED SPECIES IN INDIA
Critically Endangered
ü Jenkin’s Shrew
ü Malabar Large-spotted Civet: Kerala, Karnatka
ü Namdapha Flying Squirrel: NE India
ü Pygmy Hog (wild pig): Assam
ü Salim Ali’s fruit bat: Tamil Nadu
ü Wroughton’s Free-tailed Bat: Karnataka, Assam
ü Sumatran Rhinoceros: NE India
Other important endangered species
ü Asiatic lion
ü Asiatic Black bear
ü Desert Cat
ü Great Indian Rhinoceros
ü Golden Leaf Monkey (Golden Langur)
ü Kashmir Stag
ü Lion-tailed Macaque
ü Nilgiri Leaf Monkey
ü Indian Elephant
ü Nicobar Shrew
ü Nilgiri Tahr
ü Red Panda
ü Wild Water Buffalo
ü Woolly Flying Squirrel
SPECIAL CONSERVATION PROJECTS IN INDIA
All wildlife conservation efforts are implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Forests unless otherwise noted
Project Tiger
ü First established in 1972 in the Jim Corbett National Park
ü First tiger census in 1972 reported existence of only 1827 tigers. By the 1990s tiger population rose to 3500; however, by 2008 it had dropped to 1411.
ü By 2005, entire population Sariska Tiger Reserve had been wiped out
ü Re-population of Tiger Reserves started in 2008 when Sariska Tiger Reserve received two tigers via a translocation scheme
ü 41 Tiger Reserves covering an area over 37000 sq km
ü Cover the following tiger habitats
Ø Shivalik-Terai Conservation Unit
Ø North-east Conservation Unit
Ø Sunderbands Conservation Unit
Ø Central Indian Conservation Unit
Ø Eastern Ghat Conservation Unit
Ø Western Ghat Conservation Unit
ü Largest Tiger Reserve is the Nagarjuna-Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Andhra Pradesh. Established in 1982, it suffers from a poor density of tiger population attributed to left-wing extremism
Project Elephant
ü Launched in 1992
ü Latest Elephant Reserve is Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnatka (2010/11)
ü Currently there are 25 Elephant Reserves covering a land area 58000 sq km
Largest Elephant Reserve is the Mysore Elephant Reserve in Karnataka (2002)WILDLIFE CONSERVATION IN INDIA
ü India is home to about 60-70% of the world’s biodiversity
ü India has about 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian and 6.0% of flowering plant species
ü India contains 172 (around 2.9%) of the world’s threatened species
ü Famous mammals in Indian wildlife: Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Indian Rhinoceros, Wild Asian Water Buffalo etc
ü Large-scale conservation efforts now underway
ü Protected areas in India cover 4.5% of territory
Recent extinctions
ü Indian/Asian Cheetah
ü Javan Rhinoceros
ü Sumatran Rhinoceros
ü Pink-headed duck
ü Himalayan Quail