Nilgiri Biosphere reserve

Why in news?

• An expert appraisal committee (EAC) of Union Environment Ministry had recently deferred granting environmental clearance for the 500-MW Kundah hydroelectric project inside the buffer zone of ecologically sensitive Nilgiris biosphere reserve forest.

About Nilgiri Biosphere reserve:

• The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is an International Biosphere Reserve in the Western Ghats and Nilgiri Hills ranges of South India.
• Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve was included by UNESCO in September 1986 in its Man and Biosphere Programme.
• The Nilgiri Sub-Cluster is a part of the Western Ghats, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2012.
• It includes the Mudumalai, Mukurthi, Nagarhole, Bandipur and Silent Valley national parks, as well as the Aralam, Wayanad, Karimpuzha, and Sathyamangalam wildlife sanctuaries.
• The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve has Moist evergreen, Semi evergreen, Thorn, Savannah woodland and Sholas & grasslands.
• The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is one of the critical catchment areas of   peninsular India.
• Tribal groups like the Todas, Kotas, Irullas, Kurumbas, Paniyas, Adiyans, Edanadan Chettis, Cholanaickens, Allar,Malayan, etc., are native to the reserve.

Features of Major constituent protected areas:

• Mukurthi National Park: It is a protected area created to protect its keystone species, the Nilgiri Tahr.
• Bandipur National Park: First established in 1974 as a tiger reserve, it was earlier a private hunting reserve of Mysore Maharajas. It has third highest number of tigers in India (126) after Jim Corbett national park (231) and the adjacent Nagarhole national park (127).
• The Sathyamangalam Wildlife sanctuary: These forests link the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats allowing gene flow between diverse fauna populations of the two eco-regions
• Silent Valley National Park : The national park is one of the last undisturbed tracts of South Western Ghats mountain rain forests and tropical moist evergreen forest in India. It is home to the largest population of lion-tailed macaques, an endangered species of primate.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Consider the following protected areas:
1.Mukurti national Park
2.Anamalai Tiger Reserve
3.Silent Valley national park
4.Sathyamangalam wildlife sanctuary
5.Mudumalai National Park
Which of the above given are established under the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act?
(a)1,2 and 3 only
(b)2,4 and 5 only
(c)1,3,4 and 5 only
(d)1,2,3,4 and 5

Answer to Prelims Question