Panna Biosphere Reserve
Panna National Park is located in Madhya Pradesh in the districts of Panna and Chhatarpur. It was established in 1981 and covers an area of around 542.67 km sq.
What is a Biosphere Reserve?
A biosphere reserve is simply the areas protected for conservation of plants and animals. The idea of biosphere reserve is to conserve biodiversity through its sustainable use.
UNESCO started a Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme in 1971 as an intergovernmental scientific programme for designating Biosphere reserves. Every year, reserves are designated through MAB programme.
Key Points
- Panna National Park was declared as the 22nd Tiger reserve of India in the year 1993. It is the 5th Tiger reserve of the state.
- In 2011, it got notified as a Biosphere reserve in 2011 by Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry of India.
- It comprises of thick deciduous forest with sloths, Indian wolf, Bear pangolins, leopards, gharial, Indian fox and Tigers.
- Panna is characterized by marshy vegetation and forests, abundantly having rare medicinal plants as well as other non-timber forestry products, like gum, Kattha, and resins.
- The number of tigers in this area has increased from NIL to 50 in ten years.
- This has been made possible by the “Tiger Reintroduction Project” which commenced in the year 2009. Under the project, five female and two male tigers were introduced in Panna National Park.
Panna Biosphere Reserve designated as UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
In October 2020, it was designated as UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Panna reserve is the third Biosphere reserve of Madhya Pradesh to be included in the UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Before this, Pachmarhi and Amarkantak have been included in the list. Along with Panna; UNESCO also included Fuvahmulah and Addu Atoll in the Maldives in the list. For India, Panna Biosphere Reserve is the 12th entry in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves while for Maldives it is the 2nd and 3rd entry. At present, the World Network of Biosphere Reserves includes 714 biosphere reserves in 129 countries across the globe.
