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Protected Area Network in Orissa - Vasundhara

Protected Area Network in Orissa - Vasundhara

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<strong>Protected</strong> <strong>Area</strong> <strong>Network</strong> <strong>in</strong> IndiaIndia has a large network of <strong>Protected</strong> <strong>Area</strong>s (PAs) <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g national parks andwildlife sanctuaries. These protected areas are vital to the conservation of thebiological diversity of the country. Not only are they valuable heritage assets, but theyalso play an important role <strong>in</strong> protect<strong>in</strong>g watersheds and coastl<strong>in</strong>es, provid<strong>in</strong>glivelihoods and encourag<strong>in</strong>g conservation. In the 1980’s, the Wildlife Institute of Indiaprovided a unique framework of conservation plann<strong>in</strong>g which analysed the exist<strong>in</strong>gprotected area network scientifically, and identified the <strong>in</strong>adequacies and gaps <strong>in</strong> thecoverage. The framework divided the country <strong>in</strong>to ten zones: trans-Himalaya,Himalaya, desert, semi-arid, Western Ghats, Deccan pen<strong>in</strong>sula, Gangetic pla<strong>in</strong>, coasts,northeast, and the islands, with 26 identified biotic prov<strong>in</strong>ces with<strong>in</strong> them. From 3.34per cent of the country’s total geographical area, the <strong>Protected</strong> <strong>Area</strong> network hasgrown to atta<strong>in</strong> the present status of 4.73 per cent <strong>in</strong> 25 years.WILD LIFE SANCTUARIESThere area 492 exist<strong>in</strong>g wildlife sanctuaries <strong>in</strong> India cover<strong>in</strong>g an area of 117,077.41km 2 , which is 3.56% of the geographical area of the country. Another 217 sanctuariesare proposed <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Protected</strong> <strong>Area</strong> <strong>Network</strong> cover<strong>in</strong>g an area of 16,669.44km 2 . Maximum number of sanctuaries exists <strong>in</strong> size class less than 10 km 2 and thereare only 2 sanctuaries, hav<strong>in</strong>g more than 5,000 km 2 .State wise break up of Wildlife Sanctuaries <strong>in</strong> IndiaState & Union Territory <strong>Area</strong> (km²) No. of WLS <strong>Area</strong> (km²) % of stateAndhra Pradesh 275045 21 12530.09 4.56ArunachalPradesh 83743 11 7606.73 9.08Assam 78438 15 883.16 1.13Bihar 94163 11 2949.17 3.13Chhattisgarh 135194 10 3419.46 2.53Goa 3702 6 647.96 17.50Gujarat 196024 21 16422.71 8.3819

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