Biosphere Reserves of 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: (N3GPS2)


- Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, 2000
- Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve, 2001
- Sundarbans national park, 2001
- Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, 2004
- Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, 2009
- Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve, 2009
- 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.

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

Potential Sites for Biosphere Reserves


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


- Namdapha, Arunachal Pradesh
- Thar desert, Rajasthan
- Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
- Kaziranga, Assam
- Kanha, Madhya Pradesh
- North Islands of Andaman Andaman & Nicobar
- Abujmarh, Madhya Pradesh
- Chintapalli, Andhra Pradesh
- Lakshadweep Islands, Lakshadweep
- Singbhum, Jharkhand