Biosphere Reserves of India : Names and Location

Biosphere Reserves are large areas of bio diversity where flora and fauna are protected. These regions of environmental protection roughly correspond to IUCN Category V Protected areas. The Indian government has established 18 Biosphere Reserves of India, which protect larger areas of natural habitat (than a National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary).

Biosphere Reserves of India often include one or more National Parks or sanctuaries, along with 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.

List of Biosphere Reserves of India

NB: Those Biosphere reserves in bold are part of World Network of Biosphere Reserves too.

Sl. No	Year	Name	State	Type	Key Fauna
1	2008	Great Rann of Kutch	Gujarat	Desert	Indian Wild Ass
2	1989	Gulf of Mannar	Tamil Nadu	Coasts	Dugong or Sea Cow
3	1989	Sundarbans	West Bengal	Gangetic Delta	Royal Bengal Tiger
4	2009	Cold Desert	Himachal Pradesh	Western Himalayas	Snow Leopard
5	1988	Nanda Devi	Uttarakhand	Western Himalayas	NA
6	1986	Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve	Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka	Western Ghats	Nilgiri Tahr, Lion-tailed macaque
7	1998	Dihang-Dibang	Arunachal Pradesh	Eastern Himalaya	NA
8	1999	Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve	Madhya Pradesh	Semi-Arid	Giant Squirrel, Flying Squirrel
9	2010	Seshachalam Hills	Andhra Pradesh	Eastern Ghats	NA
10	1994	Simlipal	Odisha	Deccan Peninsula	Gaur, Royal Bengal Tiger, Wild elephant
11	2005	Achanakamar -Amarkantak	Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh	Maikala Hills	NA
12	1989	Manas	Assam	East Himalayas	Golden Langur, Red Panda
13	2000	Khangchendzonga	Sikkim	East Himalayas	Snow Leopard, Red Panda
14	2001	Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve	Kerala, Tamil Nadu	Western ghats	Nilgiri Tahr, Elephants
15	1989	Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Islands	Saltwater Crocodile
16	1988	Nokrek	Meghalaya	East Himalayas	Red Panda
17	1997	Dibru-Saikhowa	Assam	East Himalayas	Golden Langur
18	2011	Panna	Madhya Pradesh	Ken River	Tiger, Chital, Chinkara, Sambharand Sloth bear

Biosphere Reserves of India in World Network of Biosphere Reserves

Nine of the eighteen biosphere reserves of India are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list. They are given in ‘bold’ in the above list.

Main differences between Biosphere Reserves, National Park and Wild Life Sactuaries

Biosphere Reserves are the biggest entity among the three. The level of restriction in the increasing order is Biosphere Reserves, Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks. The Indian government has established 18 Biosphere Reserves of India, roughly corresponding to IUCN Category V Protected areas. India has over 441 animal sanctuaries, referred to as Wildlife sanctuaries (IUCN Category IV Protected Area). The National parks of India are IUCN category II protected areas. As of April 2012, there were 102 national parks in India and more parks on the process of getting commissioned.