If you haven’t visited Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR), then let’s give you a reason to plan a trip right away! The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has included Panna Tiger Reserve in its global network of biosphere reserves. The UNESCO recognised PTR as a critical tiger habitat. This popular tourist spot for wildlife reserves has become an iconic tiger habitat, not only in India but in the world. Earlier, India’s tiger census set the Guinness Record for the largest camera trap wildlife survey. Read on to know more.
UNESCO Declares Panna Tiger Reserve A Biosphere
Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change announced on Twitter that Panna Tiger Reserve has been declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. He put out a 50-second video of PTR’s tigers on Twitter. And in his caption, he praised PTR’s tiger conservation efforts. Javadekar congratulated them and state that this UNESCO status will help PTR to explore new measures to conserve its wildlife.
The Panna Tiger Reserve has now been declared a @UNESCO biosphere reserve.
Congratulations to Panna Tiger Reserve for their amazing work on tiger conservation.@moefcc pic.twitter.com/gsos0ZxA1a
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) November 3, 2020
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The UNESCO announced that Panna Tiger Reserve is a critical tiger habitat. The UNESCO revealed to media houses “The area has undergone substantial ecosystem restoration in the buffer zone. With only three urban centres and over 300 villages, agriculture is the main source of income together with horticulture, forestry and cultural and eco-tourism.” Principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), (wildlife), MP, Alok Kumar also spoke to Hindustan Times. He stated to the news agency “PTR was notified as a biosphere reserve by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC ) in 2011 and after nine years the UNESCO included it in the Man and Biosphere programme. ”
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Madhya Pradesh Has Highest Number Of Tigers In India
Alok Kumar further added to Hindustan Times, “It’s a proud moment for us because the MP forest department did a lot of hard work to create a conducive environment in PTR to reintroduce the population of tigers. In 2008, PTR had lost all its tigers. The forest department had reintroduced a male and a female tiger in 2009 and within a decade the animal’s population increased to over 50.” Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve received the status of Project Tiger Reserve in 1994. Madhya Pradesh has 526 tigers, the highest number of tigers in India according to the 2018 status. You can also visit Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand for a wildlife experience.