List of forests in India

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The following table is a non-exhaustive list of forests found in India.

NameImageLocationAreaComments
Abujmarh forest Chhattisgarh
Annekal Reserved Forest Western Ghats
Baikunthapur Forest Dooars, West BengalThis is a terai forest
Bandipur National Park Karnataka874 km2
Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary Shivamogga, Karnataka892 km2One of India's premier Tiger Reserves
Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park Sanguem taluk, Goa 650 km2
Bhitarkanika Mangroves
Bhitarkanika lakeride sunset.jpg
Odisha 650 km2
Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary Ponda taluk, Goa 8 km2Provides sanctuary to leopards who have been injured in human-wildlife conflict.
Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary Canacona taluk, Goa It is known for its dense forest of tall trees, some of which reach 30 metres in height.
Gir National Park Talala taluk, Gir Somnath district, Gujarat 1412 km2
Jakanari reserve forest Coimbatore
Jim Corbett National Park Nainital district and Pauri Garhwal district, Uttarakhand 520.8 km2
Kanha National Park
Tiger Kanha National Park.jpg
Madhya Pradesh 650 km2The present-day Kanha area is divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and Banjar, of 250 and 300 km2 respectively.
Keibul Lamjao National Park Bishnupur district, Manipur40 km2The national park is characterized by many floating decomposed plant materials locally called phumdis.
Kukrail Reserve Forest Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh20 km2An urban forest in the city of Lucknow, slowly development is happening around this forest but the main forest is preserved by the government, a Night Safari and a modern Zoo has also been proposed here by the government.
Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary Sattari taluk, Goa 208.5 km2Bengal tigers can be found here.
Molai forest Majuli island on the Brahmaputra River 5.5 km2
Nagarhole National Park
Elephant herd at Nagarahole wildlife sanctuary.jpg
Kodagu district and Mysore district, Karnataka 642 km2One of India's premier Tiger Reserves
Nallamala Hills Hill on Top of Nallamalla Hills which is visible on the way to Kadalivanam which is more than 20 Kms from Sri sailam temple.jpg Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh (South of River Krishna) [1]
Namdapha National Park Arunachal Pradesh 1985 km2Fourth largest national park in India.
Nanmangalam forest Chennai, Tamil Nadu24 km2The reserve forest area is 3.2 km2
Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary Goa211 km2
New Amarambalam Reserved Forest Nilambur, Malappuram district, Kerala
Pichavaram Mangrove Forest
Pichavaram Mangrove Forest 16.JPG
Pichavaram, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu11 km2World's second biggest mangrove forest
Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary Chorão (island) on Mandovi river, Goa 1.8 km2Mangrove habitat
Saranda forest West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand820 km2
Shettihalli Karnataka (Tunga River)395.6 km2
Sundarbans West Bengal 3260 km2Dense mangrove forest, one of the largest reserves for the Bengal Tiger and a UNESCO world heritage site
Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve Chandrapur district, Maharashtra
Vandalur Reserve Forest
Reserve Forest PGR6.JPG
Vandalur, Tamil Nadu
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Wayanad, Kerala 344 km2

See also

Related Research Articles

In-situ conservation is the on-site conservation or the conservation of genetic resources in natural populations of plant or animal species, such as forest genetic resources in natural populations of Teagan species. This process protects the inhabitants and ensures the sustainability of the environment and ecosystem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gir National Park</span> Forest, national park, and wildlife sanctuary in India

Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Sasan Gir, is a forest, national park, and wildlife sanctuary near Talala Gir in Gujarat, India. It is located 43 km (27 mi) north-east of Somnath, 65 km (40 mi) south-east of Junagadh and 60 km (37 mi) south-west of Amreli. It was established in 1965 in the erstwhile Nawab of Junagarh's private hunting area, with a total area of 1,410.30 km2 (544.52 sq mi), of which 258.71 km2 (99.89 sq mi) is fully protected as a national park and 1,151.59 km2 (444.63 sq mi) as wildlife sanctuary. It is part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve</span> International biosphere reserve of India

The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in the Nilgiri Mountains of the Western Ghats in South India. It is the largest protected forest area in India, spreading across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It includes the protected areas Mudumalai National Park, Mukurthi National Park, Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu; Nagarhole National Park, Bandipur National Park, both in Karnataka; Silent Valley National Park, Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, and Karimpuzha Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala.

There are four categories of protected areas in India, constituted under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Tiger reserves consist of areas under national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. There are 53 tiger reserves in India. As of January 2023, the protected areas of India cover 173,629.52 square kilometres (67,038.73 sq mi), roughly 5.28% of the total geographical area of the country.

There are 18 biosphere reserves in India. They protect larger areas of natural habitat than a typical national park or animal sanctuary, and often include one or more national parks or reserves, 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. In total there are 18 biosphere reserves in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora of India</span> Plants native to India

The flora of India is one of the richest in the world due to the wide range of climate, topology and habitat in the country. There are estimated to be over 18,000 species of flowering plants in India, which constitute some 6-7 percent of the total plant species in the world. India is home to more than 50,000 species of plants, including a variety of endemics. The use of plants as a source of medicines has been an integral part of life in India from the earliest times. There are more than 3000 Indian plant species officially documented as possessing into eight main floristic regions : Western Himalayas, Eastern Himalayas, Assam, Indus plain, Ganges plain, the Deccan, Malabar and the Andaman Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namdapha National Park</span> National park in Arunachal Pradesh, India

Namdapha National Park is a 1,985 km2 (766 sq mi) large protected area in Arunachal Pradesh of Northeast India. The park was established in 1983. With more than 1,000 floral and about 1,400 faunal species, it is a biodiversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalayas. The national park harbours the northernmost lowland evergreen rainforests in the world at 27°N latitude. It also harbours extensive dipterocarp forests, comprising the northwestern parts of the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests ecoregion.

A reserved forest and protected forest in India are forests accorded a certain degree of protection. The concept was introduced in the Indian Forest Act of 1927 during the British Raj to refer to forests granted protection under the British crown in British India, but not associated suzerainties. After Indian independence, the Government of India retained the status of the reserved and protected forests, and extended protection to other forests. Many forests that came under the jurisdiction of the Government of India during the political integration of India were initially granted such protection.

Private protected areas of India refer to protected areas inside India whose land rights are owned by an individual or a corporation / organization, and where the habitat and resident species are offered some kind of protection from exploitative activities like hunting, logging, etc. The Government of India did not provide any legal or physical protection to such entities, but in an important amendment introduced by the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002, has agreed to protect communally owned areas of ecological value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife Institute of India</span>

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an autonomous natural resource service institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change, Government of India. WII carries out wildlife research in areas of study like Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Wildlife Policy, Wildlife Management, Wildlife Forensics, Spatial Modeling, Ecodevelopment, Ecotoxicology, Habitat Ecology and Climate Change. WII has a research facility which includes Forensics, Remote Sensing and GIS, Laboratory, Herbarium, and an Electronic Library. The founder director was V. B. Saharia while the first Director was Hemendra Singh Panwar who remained the director from 1985 to 1994. Trained personnel from WII have contributed in studying and protecting wildlife in India. The national tiger census or the All India Tiger Estimation, is done by WII along with NTCA and state forest departments.

Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India. Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities, and community areas if part of the lands are privately owned. Administration of such reserves would be through local people and local agencies like the gram panchayat, as in the case of communal forests.

India is home to a large variety of wildlife. It is a biodiversity hotspot with various ecosystems ranging from the Himalayas in the north to the evergreen rainforests in the south, the sands of the west to the marshy mangroves of the east. India lies within the Indomalayan realm and is home to about 7.6% of mammal, 14.7% of amphibian, 6% of bird, 6.2% of reptilian, and 6.2% of flowering plant species. India's forests contain about 500 species of mammals and more than 1300 bird species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forestry in India</span> Environmental resource – India

Forestry in India is a significant rural industry and a major environmental resource. India is one of the ten most forest-rich countries of the world. Together, India and 9 other countries account for 67 percent of the total forest area of the world. India's forest cover grew at 0.20% annually over 1990–2000, and has grown at the rate of 0.7% per year over 2000–2010, after decades where forest degradation was a matter of serious concern.

Bihar is a state in East India. It is bounded by Uttar Pradesh to the west, Nepal to the north, West Bengal to the east and Jharkhand to the south. About 7% of the state is protected forest area.

References

  1. Students' Britannica India. Popular Prakashan. 2000. ISBN   9780852297605.