Protected forests and protected areas: national parks, sanctuaries and World Heritage sites

Detail

1. Forest categories in India

In India, the government owns, manages and controls most forest land through the Forest Department. It sorts this land into three legal categories.

Category	What it means	Share of forest land (NCERT)
Reserved forests	Forests with the strongest legal protection. Most rights of local people are limited. They are the most valuable for conserving forest and wildlife.	More than half
Protected forests	Forests that are kept safe from further depletion (more loss or damage). Some local use is allowed.	About one-third
Unclassed forests	Other forests and wastelands. The government, private individuals or communities may own them.	The rest

• Permanent forest estates: reserved and protected forests taken together. They are kept for good to produce timber and other forest produce, and to protect the land.
• Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent forests. These make up 75% of its total forest area.
• North-eastern states and parts of Gujarat: most of their forests are unclassed. Local communities manage them.
• Exam trap: a "protected forest" is a type of forest land. It is not the same as a "protected area" (national park, sanctuary and so on) under the Wildlife Act.

2. Protected areas under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972

A protected area (PA) is land or water notified under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to conserve wildlife and its habitat. There are four types.

Type	Definition	Human activity
National park	An area kept strictly for wildlife. Its boundaries are fixed by legislation.	No forestry, grazing or cultivation
Wildlife sanctuary	An area that protects animals, but with fewer limits	Some activities, such as collecting minor forest produce (honey, leaves, gum and similar items), are allowed if they do not harm wildlife
Conservation reserve	An area, usually next to a national park or sanctuary, that protects plants, animals and their habitat. It often works as a buffer or a corridor (a strip of land that links two habitats).	People keep their rights
Community reserve	Private or community land, outside other PAs, where a community or a person has volunteered to conserve wildlife	Managed by local people

• Conservation reserves: state governments declare them on land next to national parks and sanctuaries. The 2022 amendment also lets the central government notify a conservation reserve [6].
• Community reserves: the state may declare any private or community land that is not inside a national park, sanctuary or conservation reserve. The aim is to protect plants, animals and traditional or cultural conservation practices [7].

• If the land is private, a management committee runs the reserve. It includes the land owner, a representative of the State Forest or Wildlife Department, and a representative of the Panchayat or the tribal community [7].

• Sanctuary management (2022 amendment): the Chief Wildlife Warden must follow a management plan made under central guidelines. In special areas, the plan is made only after consulting the Gram Sabha (the assembly of all adult voters of a village) [6].

3. How big is India's protected-area network?

• As of 27 November 2023, India had 1,014 protected areas [2]:
• 106 national parks (NCERT: 107)
• 573 wildlife sanctuaries (NCERT: 573)
• 115 conservation reserves

• 220 community reserves

• Together they cover 1,75,169.42 km², or about 5.32% of India's geographical area (NCERT: about 5–6%) [2].

• National parks alone cover 44,402.95 km², which is 1.35% of India [3].
• The MoEF database lists 574 wildlife sanctuaries covering 1,27,241.24 km² [4].
• Conservation reserves cover 5,548.75 km², or 0.17% of India [5].
• Key point: sanctuaries cover about three times the area of national parks. Sanctuaries are the main part of the network.

4. Important national parks

Corbett National Park — India's first national park

• Set up in 1936 as Hailey National Park in Nainital district, Uttarakhand.
• It lies along the Ramganga river, a tributary of the Ganga, in the Shiwalik foothills.
• Project Tiger was launched here in 1973. This is India's central programme to save the tiger and its habitat through tiger reserves: protected areas managed mainly for tigers.

Kaziranga National Park — rhino stronghold

• It lies on the Brahmaputra floodplain in Assam. A floodplain is flat land beside a river that is covered with water during floods.
• It has about two-thirds of the world's greater one-horned rhinoceros.
• World Heritage Site in 1985. UNESCO listed it for its large numbers of one-horned rhinos, tigers, elephants, panthers, bears and birds, and because it is a Brahmaputra floodplain and grassland ecosystem left largely undisturbed by people [8].
• Tiger reserve in 2006.
• Why floods help: the yearly Brahmaputra floods bring fresh silt (fine, fertile soil) → tall grasslands grow back → rhinos and deer get food. But high floods also push animals towards the highway on higher ground, where vehicles kill some of them.

Keoladeo National Park — wetland for birds

• It is at Bharatpur, Rajasthan. A wetland is land that is covered with shallow water for all or part of the year.
• It is a winter home for migratory waterbirds, which fly in every year from colder lands.
• The Siberian crane was last seen here in 2002.
• In October 1981 it became one of India's first two Ramsar sites [13]. A Ramsar site is a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention (1971), a global treaty to protect wetlands.
• It shelters more than 350 bird species, including some endangered ones [13].
• World Heritage Site in 1985.

Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP)

• It is in Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh, in the western Himalaya.
• World Heritage Site in 2014. UNESCO lists it as the "Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area" [10].
• Key animals: snow leopard, Himalayan tahr (a wild goat) and western tragopan (a pheasant).
• Local villages take part in its conservation.

5. The Sundarbans

What and where

• The Sundarbans is the world's largest mangrove forest. Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees and shrubs that grow in tidal mud along warm coasts.
• It lies in the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta at the head of the Bay of Bengal. On the Bangladesh side, the Meghna also joins in [12].
• It is made up of hundreds of islands and a maze of rivers, rivulets and creeks [11].
• India holds about 40% of it (West Bengal). Bangladesh holds the rest.

Why it matters (cause → process → result)

• Coastal shield:
• Cyclones form over the Bay of Bengal and drive storm surges (walls of sea water pushed onto land by strong winds).
• Dense mangrove roots slow the waves and hold the mud in place.

• As a result, there is less flooding and erosion inland.

• Indian share in numbers: the Indian Sundarban has over 60% of India's total mangrove area and 90% of Indian mangrove species [11].

Sundarbans National Park and its global labels

Label	Year	Note
Tiger reserve	1973	One of the first nine Project Tiger reserves
World Heritage Site	1987	Natural site, West Bengal [8]
Ramsar site	2019	"Sundarban Wetland", Site no. 2370. It is India's largest Ramsar site, at about 0.42 million ha [11]

• Bangladesh side: the Sundarbans Reserved Forest has been a Ramsar site since 21 May 1992. It covers 6,01,700 ha [12].
• Royal Bengal tigers here swim in saline (salty) water and live on tidal islands.
• Problems:
• Human-tiger conflict: people who collect honey, catch fish or gather crabs enter the forest, and tigers sometimes attack them.
• Sea-level rise: the sea rises → low islands go under water and soil becomes saltier → people and wildlife lose habitat.

6. Natural World Heritage Sites of India

A World Heritage Site is a place listed by UNESCO under the World Heritage Convention (1972) for its "outstanding universal value". It can be natural, cultural or mixed (both).

Site	State	Year inscribed
Kaziranga National Park	Assam	1985
Manas Wildlife Sanctuary	Assam	1985
Keoladeo National Park	Rajasthan	1985
Sundarbans National Park	West Bengal	1987
Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks	Uttarakhand	1988 (extended 2005)
Western Ghats	Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu	2012
Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area	Himachal Pradesh	2014
Khangchendzonga National Park (mixed)	Sikkim	2016

• India has seven natural World Heritage Sites. Khangchendzonga is India's only mixed site [8][10].
• Khangchendzonga stretches from sub-tropical to alpine ecosystems. It has plains, valleys, lakes, glaciers and snow-capped mountains with old forests. It includes Mount Khangchendzonga, the world's third-highest peak [9].

• It is "mixed" because it also has cultural value: the mountain is sacred to local Buddhist and Lepcha people. This links to sacred groves (patches of forest that communities protect for religious reasons) and to community conservation.

• Assam has two natural sites, Kaziranga and Manas, both from 1985.

Prelims Hooks

• Corbett (1936, as Hailey NP) → Nainital, Uttarakhand, on the Ramganga → India's first national park → Project Tiger launched here in 1973.
• Grazing is banned in a national park, not in a sanctuary. A sanctuary allows minor forest produce collection if wildlife is not harmed.
• Protected areas (27 November 2023): 106 national parks, 573 sanctuaries, 115 conservation reserves and 220 community reserves → 1,014 PAs covering about 5.32% of India [2].
• Largest Ramsar site in India: Sundarban Wetland (2019, about 0.42 million ha) [11]. First Ramsar sites: Keoladeo and Chilika (1981).
• Keoladeo (Bharatpur, Rajasthan) is both a Ramsar site (1981) and a World Heritage Site (1985). The Siberian crane was last seen there in 2002.
• India's only mixed World Heritage Site: Khangchendzonga NP, Sikkim (2016) [9].
• 1985 natural World Heritage trio: Kaziranga, Manas and Keoladeo. Only Keoladeo is outside Assam.
• Madhya Pradesh has the largest permanent forest area (75% of its forests). The north-eastern states have mostly unclassed, community-managed forests.
• Trap: "protected forest" (a forest-land category) ≠ "protected area" (a Wildlife Act category).
• The 2022 amendment lets the Centre also notify conservation reserves [6].

Mains Points

• Coverage is small and broken up:
• PAs cover only about 5.32% of India [2], and national parks only 1.35% [3].
• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022) asks countries to protect 30% of land by 2030.

• So India needs corridors, conservation and community reserves, and OECMs (other effective area-based conservation measures: areas outside formal PAs that still conserve nature).

• Community-based protection is growing:

• Examples are 220 community reserves [2], Gram Sabha consultation under the 2022 amendment [6], GHNP's village participation, and community-managed unclassed forests in the North-East.

• Together they mark a shift from "fortress conservation" (keeping people out) to working with local people.

• The Sundarbans is a climate frontline (GS-III):

• Mangroves cut the force of cyclones and storm surges, and hold over 60% of India's mangrove area [11].
• Sea-level rise and human-tiger conflict threaten both nature and livelihoods.

• India and Bangladesh share it as Ramsar sites [11][12], so they need to manage it together across the border.

• Global labels add protection and responsibility:

• World Heritage and Ramsar status bring international monitoring. Kaziranga's floods and Keoladeo's water shortages are examples of problems that are watched.
• This helps India report on its CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) targets.