With 18 biosphere reserves, here’s why India is an ecologist’s paradise

New Delhi: From infrastructure projects in India’s Nicobar Islands to mining activities in Ecuador’s Choco Andino, developmental works in and around biosphere reserves have always irked climate activists. Biosphere reserves are ecosystems established by countries and recognised by UNESCO to promote sustainable development based on local community efforts to conserve plants and animals of unusual scientific and natural interest. November 3 this year marks the first ‘International Day for Biosphere Reserves’. And in an emerging economy such as India, maintaining a balance between industrialisation, ecology and accommodating a bludgeoning population is dotted with sensitivities. India at present has 18 notified biosphere reserves spanning 60,000 sq km, according to the Wildlife Institute of India, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The largest biosphere reserve is Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat (12,454 sq km) and the smallest is Dibru-Saikhowa in Assam (765 sq km). 

Other bigger biosphere reserves are Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu (10,500 sq km), Sunderbans in West Bengal (9,630 sq km) and Cold Desert in Himachal Pradesh (7,770 sq km). Sunderbans, spanning across parts of India and Bangladesh, is the largest mangrove forest in the world, while Cold Desert covers Pin Valley National Park, Chandratal, Sarchu, and Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh. 

Across the world, there are 738 biosphere reserves in 134 countries, including 22 transboundary sites, according to UNESCO. Region-wise, the highest number of reserves are in Europe and North America (308), followed by Asia and Pacific (172), Latin America and Caribbean (132), Africa (90) and Arab states (36). Country-wise, the highest number of such sites are in Spain (53), Russia (48) and Mexico (42). 

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The world’s first five-country biosphere reserve stretches across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia, and covers 700 km of the Mura, Drava and Danube rivers. With a total area of almost 1 million hectares in what is popularly known as the ‘Amazon of Europe’, it is the largest riverine-protected area in the continent.