Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve

Topic: Biodiversity and its Conservation · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Natural Vegetation"

Meaning

Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve on Great Nicobar Island, the southernmost of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (UT). India set it up in 1989. It protects tropical rainforest, the beaches where leatherback turtles nest, and the home of the Shompen tribe. UNESCO added it to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) in 2013 [2][3].

It is India's only biosphere reserve on an oceanic island. It is also at the centre of a live debate, because a large port and township project is planned inside it. This makes it a key example of the clash between development and conservation.

Explanation

What a biosphere reserve is, and how it applies here

• Biosphere reserve: a large area of land, coast or sea, or a mix of these, that represents a typical ecosystem of its biogeographic region. A biogeographic region is a natural region with its own plants and animals [2].

• Great Nicobar stands for the island ecosystem of the Bay of Bengal: dense tropical rainforest that comes right down to sandy beaches and the sea.

• People are part of the system. Local communities, here the Shompen, are not simply kept out [2].

• MoEFCC calls biosphere reserves "sites for experimenting with and learning about sustainable development" [2].

The three zones (the model every Indian reserve follows)

• Core zone: legally protected, with no human interference. It keeps species and gene pools in their natural state.
• Buffer zone: research, education and limited use that does not harm nature. It shields the core.
• Transition zone: villages, farms and sustainable use. It links conservation with the local economy.
• Why the zones work:
• Local people depend on the forest → this puts pressure on the core.
• People in the outer zones get other ways to earn a living → they take less from the forest.
• Result: less biotic pressure (harm from people and grazing animals) on the core [2].

Why Great Nicobar needs protection

• Tropical rainforest: the island lies close to the Equator. It gets heat and heavy rain all year, so it grows dense tropical evergreen forest, the vegetation type in NCERT's "Natural Vegetation" chapter.
• Leatherback turtle nesting beaches: the island's sandy beaches are where this sea turtle lays its eggs.
• Shompen people: a particularly vulnerable tribal group, meaning a tribal community that is very small and at high risk. They live in the island's forests.
• Island isolation: the island is small (1,038.7 sq km) and far from the mainland [2]. Its plants, animals and people cannot easily recover from large disturbances.

Status and how it is run

• Not a legal category. A biosphere reserve is not a protected area under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. It is set up by an executive scheme of the central government. Only its core gets legal protection, through national parks or sanctuaries inside it.
• Funding: the biosphere reserve sub-scheme sits under MoEFCC's Centrally Sponsored Scheme "Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems" (CNRE) [2].
• UNESCO recognition: the national government nominated it. The International Coordinating Council (ICC) of the MAB Programme approved it for the WNBR in 2013 [2].

Where it occurs

• Location: Great Nicobar Island, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (UT), the southernmost islands of India. India's southernmost point, Indira Point, is on this island.
• On the map: it sits far to the south-east of mainland India, in the Bay of Bengal. It is the farthest of India's 18 biosphere reserves from the mainland.
• Year: declared 1989, the same year as Gulf of Mannar, Sunderban and Manas [2].
• Area: 1,038.7 sq km [2].
• Coastal and marine group: it is one of India's three sea-linked reserves:
• Gulf of Mannar (Tamil Nadu): marine
• Sunderban (West Bengal): delta mangroves

• Great Nicobar (A&N Islands): island

• Place in the UNESCO order of joining: Achanakmar-Amarkantak (2012) → Great Nicobar (2013) → Agasthyamalai (2016) [2][3]. It is one of 13 of India's 18 reserves on the WNBR [3].

• Wider programme: UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, started in 1971, runs the WNBR. The network had 785 sites in 142 countries in 2025 [3].

Don't confuse with

• National park / wildlife sanctuary: these are legal protected areas under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, and people are mostly kept out. A biosphere reserve is an executive scheme with no legal status of its own, and it includes local people in its outer zones.
• UNESCO World Heritage Site: a different UNESCO list. Great Nicobar is on the WNBR (2013). Manas is a World Heritage Site but is not on the WNBR [2].
• Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve: this is India's first marine reserve (dugongs, coral reefs, 21 islands). Great Nicobar is an island rainforest reserve. Both were set up in 1989.
• Andaman Islands: these are the northern group. Great Nicobar is in the Nicobar group, further south.

Prelims Hooks

• Great Nicobar BR → Shompen tribe and leatherback turtles. This is a common reserve–feature match. Compare: Agasthyamalai → Kani tribe; Similipal → melanistic tigers.
• Year pair: declared 1989, added to the WNBR 2013 [2][3].
• 1989 batch: Gulf of Mannar, Sunderban, Manas and Great Nicobar. Of these four, only Manas is not on the WNBR [2].
• Order of WNBR entry: Achanakmar-Amarkantak (2012) → Great Nicobar (2013) → Agasthyamalai (2016) → Khangchendzonga (2018) → Panna (2020) → Cold Desert (2025) [2][3].
• Trap: a biosphere reserve is not a protected area under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. It is a sub-scheme under CNRE [2].
• Map trap: Great Nicobar lies in the Bay of Bengal, not the Arabian Sea. It is India's southernmost reserve.

Mains Points

• Development vs conservation (GS-III): the planned port and township project lies inside a reserve that holds rainforest, leatherback turtle nesting beaches and the Shompen.
• Case for it: strategic infrastructure in a key sea location.
• Case against it: lost forest, disturbed nesting beaches, and risk to a particularly vulnerable tribal group.

• Way forward: strict environmental assessment, protection of nesting beaches and the core, and free, informed consent of the tribal people.

• Limits of the biosphere reserve model: the reserve has no legal status of its own. Only its core is protected, through national parks or sanctuaries. So the zoning gives weak protection against large projects. A small, isolated island ecosystem also recovers poorly from damage.

• Global commitments: as a WNBR site, Great Nicobar is a tool for in-situ conservation (protecting species in their natural home) under the CBD (1992). It also supports area-based targets under the Kunming-Montreal GBF (2022) [2][3]. Large-scale damage would weaken India's case under these commitments.

Related concepts

• Biosphere reserve
• Man and Biosphere Programme
• Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
• Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve
• Nokrek Biosphere Reserve
• Manas Biosphere Reserve
• Sunderban Biosphere Reserve
• Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve
• Similipal Biosphere Reserve
• Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve

Read more

• Biosphere reserves and UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme