BIO SPHERE RESERVES IN INDIA A GLANCE

Biosphere reserves of India

The Indian government has established 16 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 fifteen biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list.

§  Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

§  Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve

§  Sundarbans national park

§  Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve

§  Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve

§  Nokrek Biosphere Reserve

§  Simlipal Biosphere Reserve

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.Recently India has added one more area as biosphere reserve namely cold desert of Himachal Pradesh taking the total count to 16.

List of Biosphere Reserves

Biosphere reserves of India (area wise)
	Year	Name	Location	State	Type	Area (km²)
1	2008	Great Rann of Kutch	Part of Kuchh, Rajkot and Surendranagar District	Gujarat	Desert	12454
2	1989	Gulf of Mannar	Indian part of Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka	Tamil Nadu	Coasts	10500
3	1989	Sunderbans	Part of delta of Ganges and Barahamaputra river system	West Bengal	Gangetic Delta	9630
4	1988	Nanda Devi	Parts of Chamoli District, Pithoragarh District & Bageshwar District	Uttarakhand	West Himalayas	5860
5	1986	Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve	Part of Wynad, Nagarhole, Bandipur and Mudumalai, Nilambur, Silent Valley andSiruvani Hills	Tamil Nadu, Kerala andKarnataka	Western Ghats	5520
6	1998	Dehong Deband	Part of Siang and Debang valley	Arunachal Pradesh	East Himalayas	5112
7	1999	Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve	Parts of Betul District, Hoshangabad District and Chhindwara District	Madhya Pradesh	Semi-Arid	4926
8	1994	Simlipal	Part of Mayurbhanj district	Orissa	Deccan Peninsula	4374
9	2005	Achanakamar - Amarkantak	Part of Annupur, Dindori and Bilaspur districts	Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh	Maikala Range	3835
10	1989	Manas	Part of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup and Darrang District	Assam	East Himalayas	2837
11	2000	Kanchanjunga	Parts of Kanchanjunga Hills	Sikkim	East Himalayas	2620
12	2001	Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve	Neyyar, Peppara and Shenduruny Wildlife Sanctuary and their adjoining areas	Kerala	Western ghats	1828
13	1989	Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve	Southern most islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Islands	885
14	1988	Nokrek	Part of Garo Hills	Meghalaya	East Himalayas	820
15	1997	Dibru-Saikhowa	Part of Dibrugargh and Tinsukia district	Assam	East Himalayas	765
16	2009	Cold Desert	Pin Valley National Park and surroundings;Chandratal and Sarchu & Kibber Wildlife Sancturary	Himachal Pradesh	Western Himalayas	7770