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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Nandhaur becomes a wildlife sanctuary
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Nandhaur becomes a wildlife sanctuary

Decision by MoEF welcomed by conservationists as a crucial move to save biodiversity

Nandhaur forms part of the larger area known to conservationists as the Terai Arc Landscape. Photo: Amit Verma (Amit Verma)Premium
Nandhaur forms part of the larger area known to conservationists as the Terai Arc Landscape. Photo: Amit Verma
(Amit Verma)

The ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) at a meeting with the centre and the Uttarakhand forest department on Tuesday decided to declare a part of the Nandhaur Landscape, an area of 260 sq. km as a wildlife sanctuary.

The decision was welcomed by conservationists as a crucial move to save the biodiversity of the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL), a contiguous forest stretching from the border of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in India to Nepal.

Earlier this year, Mint had carried a detailed story on the status of Nandhaur and why it needs better protection as a wildlife sanctuary—Saving a forest from vanishing.

Nandhaur forms part of the larger area known to conservationists as the Terai Arc Landscape that covers 49,500 sq. km (30,000 sq. km of which is in India, the rest in Nepal). TAL also represents one of the densest populations of the tiger in the world with 14 protected areas (nine in India, five in Nepal) and is home to three flagship species—the tiger, the Asian elephant and the Indian rhinoceros. The TAL in Uttarakhand can be roughly divided into three large landscapes as area between: the river Yamuna and the river Ganga; the Ganga and the Gola; and the Gola and the Sharda.

The Nandhaur landscape lies between the rivers Gola and Sharda, in the Haldwani forest division, whose five ranges, namely Chakata, Nandhaur, Jaulasal, Danda and Sharda, cover about 600 sq. km.

The Nandhaur forest has a healthy population of Asian elephants, leopards and sloth bears. “It is also home to tigers but the population is low with a great potential of rebound," says Amit Verma, divisional forest officer, Haldwani, who has tirelessly fought over the years for its upgrade from the status of a reserved forest to a wildlife sanctuary.

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Published: 27 Nov 2012, 09:52 PM IST
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