Protected areas and biosphere reserves on the map

Detail

1. Why India needs protected areas

• Species wealth: India has about 4–5 per cent of the world's known species of plants and animals.
• Why wildlife is declining:
• Industry and technology: factories use up forest resources quickly.
• Land clearing: more forest is cut for farms, settlements, roads, mines and reservoirs.
• Local pressure: people cut tree branches for fodder and fuel (this is called lopping), cattle graze in forests, and small timber is removed.
• Hunting: first as a sport for the rich, then as commercial poaching (killing animals to sell parts such as skins, tusks and horns).

• Forest fires destroy habitat.

• Result: animals lose their homes and food, their numbers fall, and some species face extinction. So the state sets aside protected land.

2. The legal base: Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972

• Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: the main central law for wildlife. It gives legal backing to national parks, sanctuaries and closed areas. A closed area is one where hunting is banned for a period.
• 1991 amendment: brought plants under protection as well.
• Newer categories: conservation reserves and community reserves were added later.
• Conservation reserve: government land, usually next to a park or sanctuary, protected to link habitats.
• Community reserve: community or private land that local people choose to protect.

3. National park vs wildlife sanctuary

Feature	National park	Wildlife sanctuary
Purpose	Protects the whole ecosystem: plants, animals and land	Protects mainly the animals and birds
Forestry (cutting trees)	Not allowed	Some harvesting allowed if animals are not harmed
Grazing / cultivation	Not allowed	Limited activity may be allowed
Minor forest produce (honey, gum, leaves)	Not allowed	Collection allowed if wildlife is not harmed
Level of protection	Stricter	Less strict

4. How many protected areas India has

• NCERT count: 107 national parks and 573 wildlife sanctuaries.
• Current count (WII National Wildlife Database, as of 27 November 2023): India has 1,014 protected areas [4]:

Category	Number (27 Nov 2023)
National parks	106 (NCERT: 107)
Wildlife sanctuaries	573
Conservation reserves	115
Community reserves	220
Total	1,014

• Together they cover 1,75,169.42 sq km, about 5.32 per cent of India's land area (2023) [4].
• The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun runs the National Wildlife Information System (NWIS) that tracks these numbers [4].

5. Biosphere reserves: the idea

• Biosphere reserve: a large area of land and/or coast and sea that is protected for two aims together:
• conserving biodiversity (the variety of plants, animals and microorganisms), and

• letting local people live there and earn a living in a sustainable way (using resources without using them up).

• They come under UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme. UNESCO is the United Nations' education, science and culture body.

• Biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments and stay under the control of the country where they lie [3].
• Worldwide (2025): more than 26 crore (260 million) people live in biosphere reserves. Together they protect over 7 million sq km, about the size of Australia [3].
• The MAB International Coordinating Council (MAB-ICC) has 34 member states. It decides which sites join the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) [3].
• After the 2020 additions, the WNBR had 714 biosphere reserves in 129 countries (2020) [5].

6. Three zones of a biosphere reserve

Zone	Where	What happens
Core	Innermost part	Strictly protected. No human disturbance; only monitoring is allowed.
Buffer	Around the core	Research, education and low-impact activities. It shields the core.
Transition	Outermost part	Villages, farming and other sustainable uses. Local people and managers work together here.

• Policy link: India's funding scheme puts special emphasis on the buffer and transition zones. Giving people other ways to earn a living there lowers human pressure on the core (2025) [3].

7. Three objectives (NCERT Figure 5.9)

• Conservation: protect ecosystems, species and genetic variety.
• Development: support economic growth that suits local culture and does not harm nature.
• Logistic support: back up research, monitoring, education and training.

8. India's 18 biosphere reserves (NCERT Table 5.1)

• Count: 18 biosphere reserves, from Nilgiri (1986, the first) to Panna (2011, the newest).
• Area: together they cover about 91,425 sq km (2025) [3].

No.	Biosphere reserve	Year notified	State(s)
1	Nilgiri	1986	Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka
2	Nanda Devi	1988	Uttarakhand
3	Nokrek	1988	Meghalaya
4	Manas	1989	Assam
5	Sunderbans	1989	West Bengal
6	Gulf of Mannar	1989	Tamil Nadu
7	Great Nicobar	1989	Andaman and Nicobar Islands
8	Similipal	1994	Odisha
9	Dibru-Saikhowa	1997	Assam
10	Dehang-Dibang	1998	Arunachal Pradesh
11	Pachmarhi	1999	Madhya Pradesh
12	Khangchendzonga	2000	Sikkim
13	Agasthyamalai	2001	Kerala, Tamil Nadu
14	Achanakmar-Amarkantak	2005	Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
15	Kachchh (Great Rann of Kutch)	2008	Gujarat
16	Cold Desert	2009	Himachal Pradesh
17	Seshachalam Hills	2010	Andhra Pradesh
18	Panna	2011	Madhya Pradesh

• Size extremes (2025):
• Largest: Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, 12,454 sq km (desert zone) [3].
• Second largest: Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu, about 10,500 sq km (marine). Area questions often pair it with Kachchh.

• Smallest: Nokrek, Meghalaya, 820 sq km (Eastern Himalaya) [3]. NCERT Table 5.1 gives Dibru-Saikhowa (Assam) as 765 sq km, so read each option carefully.

• States with the most biosphere reserves (3 each): Madhya Pradesh (Pachmarhi, Achanakmar-Amarkantak, Panna) and Tamil Nadu (Nilgiri, Gulf of Mannar, Agasthyamalai) [3].

9. Indian sites in UNESCO's World Network

• NCERT: 12 Indian biosphere reserves are in UNESCO's World Network.
• Current (2025): 13. Cold Desert (Himachal Pradesh) was added at the 37th session of the MAB-ICC on 27 September 2025 [2][3].

Order	Biosphere reserve	Year added to WNBR
1	Nilgiri	2000
2	Gulf of Mannar	2001
3	Sunderbans	2001
4	Nanda Devi	2004
5	Nokrek	2009
6	Pachmarhi	2009
7	Similipal	2009
8	Achanakmar-Amarkantak	2012
9	Great Nicobar	2013
10	Agasthyamala	2016
11	Khangchendzonga	2018
12	Panna	2020
13	Cold Desert	2025

(Sources for this table: [2][5][6].)

• Khangchendzonga (Sikkim) became the 11th Indian site in the network in 2018 [6].
• Panna (Madhya Pradesh) was added on 29 October 2020 as India's 12th [5].
• It includes the Panna Tiger Reserve and the World Heritage Khajuraho Group of Monuments [5].

• It has forests and marshy vegetation, rare medicinal plants and forest produce such as kattha, gum and resins. It covers over 300 villages [5].

• Cold Desert (Himachal Pradesh):

• It covers Pin Valley National Park and the land around it, Chandratal and Sarchu, and Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary [2].

• It protects 7,770 sq km of snow leopard habitat, with local communities taking part (2025) [2].

• Still outside the UNESCO network (2025): Manas, Dibru-Saikhowa, Dehang-Dibang, Kachchh and Seshachalam. These are notified only at the national level.

10. Locating the exercise sites on the map

• Nanda Devi (Uttarakhand): in the Garhwal Himalaya around Nanda Devi peak (7,816 m), at about 30°N. It has high-altitude alpine meadows and is the northernmost site in the exercise list.
• Sunderbans (West Bengal): on the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta at the head of the Bay of Bengal. It is the world's largest mangrove forest (mangrove: salt-tolerant trees that grow on tidal coasts) and is shared with Bangladesh. It is home to the Royal Bengal tiger.
• Nilgiri (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka): where the Western and Eastern Ghats meet, at about 11–12°N. It includes Mudumalai, Wayanad, Bandipur, Nagarhole and Silent Valley. It was India's first biosphere reserve (1986).
• Gulf of Mannar (Tamil Nadu): the sea between India and Sri Lanka, south of the Palk Strait and Adam's Bridge, at about 9°N. It is a marine reserve with coral reefs, seagrass and the dugong (sea cow), and the southernmost site in the exercise list.
• North-to-south order: Nanda Devi → Sunderbans → Nilgiri → Gulf of Mannar.

11. Funding and management in India

• The Biosphere Reserve Division of MoEFCC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) runs a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Biodiversity Conservation. It is a sub-scheme of Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems (CNRE) [3].
• Cost sharing between the Centre and the states: 60:40, or 90:10 for North Eastern and Himalayan states [3].
• Budget: doubled from ₹5 crore (2024-25) to ₹10 crore (2025-26) [3].
• State Forest Departments carry out the work on the ground [3].

Prelims Hooks

• First biosphere reserve in India: Nilgiri (1986). Newest: Panna (2011, Madhya Pradesh).
• Largest biosphere reserve: Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat (12,454 sq km). Smallest per PIB 2025: Nokrek, Meghalaya (820 sq km) [3].
• UNESCO count: NCERT says 12. Since 27 September 2025 it is 13, after Cold Desert (Himachal Pradesh) was added [2].
• Trap: India has 18 notified biosphere reserves, but only 13 are in UNESCO's network. Kachchh, the largest, is not in it.
• Place–state pairs: Similipal → Odisha; Dehang-Dibang → Arunachal Pradesh; Seshachalam → Andhra Pradesh; Achanakmar-Amarkantak → Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh; Agasthyamalai → Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Most biosphere reserves: Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 3 each [3].
• Protected areas (27 Nov 2023): 1,014 in all = 106 national parks + 573 sanctuaries + 115 conservation reserves + 220 community reserves, about 5.32 per cent of India's area [4].
• National park vs sanctuary: grazing, forestry and cultivation are banned in a national park. A sanctuary allows limited harvesting and minor forest produce collection.
• Zones from inside to outside: core → buffer → transition. Human settlement is allowed only in the transition zone.
• Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 was amended in 1991 to protect plants.

Mains Points

• Causes of wildlife decline (GS-III, environment):
• land is cleared for farms, settlements, roads, mines and reservoirs, and forests suffer lopping, grazing, poaching and fires;
• so habitats break into pieces;

• the response is a protected-area network of 1,014 sites, which still covers only about 5.32 per cent of India's area (2023) [4].

• How biosphere reserves differ from parks:

• national parks keep people out;
• biosphere reserves bring people in through the buffer and transition zones;

• the 60:40 / 90:10 scheme funds other ways to earn a living there, which lowers pressure on the core [3].

• Distribution pattern (GS-I):

• the reserves cover every major biome: Himalayan (Nanda Devi, Khangchendzonga, Cold Desert), North-East (Nokrek, Manas, Dibru-Saikhowa), desert (Kachchh), deltaic mangrove (Sunderbans), marine (Gulf of Mannar), island (Great Nicobar), Western Ghats (Nilgiri, Agasthyamalai) and central Indian plateau (Pachmarhi, Panna);

• gaps remain in the Thar and the semi-arid Deccan.

• Global recognition:

• India's sites in UNESCO's network grew from 12 to 13 in 2025 [2];
• but 5 of the 18 reserves are still only nationally notified;
• this calls for better management plans and community participation before more of them can be nominated.