KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK - ENVIORNMENT
News: In
Kaziranga, Indo-French partnership bears fruit
What's in the news?
● Artificial
highlands where animals can escape during floods; more than 200 anti-poaching
camps; alternate livelihood training for local communities - these measures at
the Kaziranga National Park in Assam
will form the cornerstone of an Indo-French initiative announced earlier
this year.
Key takeaways:
● With French and Indian
technical and financial support, the Indo-Pacific
Parks Partnership will facilitate partnership activities for interested natural
parks of the Indo-Pacific region.
● These
activities include biodiversity conservation, wildlife management and
engagement with local communities.
● The
Kaziranga project is a part of a larger
Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation (APFBC) for which the
Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has committed funding of €80.2 million
for a 10-year period, between 2014-2024.
● The
project conceptualised the reforestation
of 33,500 hectares of land and the training of 10,000 community members in
alternate livelihoods by 2024.
Kaziranga National Park:
● Kaziranga
National Park is one of India’s oldest reserve areas. It was declared as a National Park in 1974.
● It
is located in Golaghat and Nagaon, in the Karbi
Anglong district of Assam in northeast India. The park is administered by
the forest department of the Assam State Government.
● The
sanctuary, which hosts two-thirds of the
world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses, is a World Heritage Site.
● Kaziranga
is home to the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world and
was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006.
(Now, the highest tiger density is in Orang National Park, Assam).
● The
park is home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo,
and swamp deer.
● It
is also recognized as an Important Bird
Area by Bird Life International for the conservation of avifaunal species.
● The
park also has elephants, swamp deer, wild water buffalo, etc. It also has a
wide range of flora.
● It
also has 15 threatened species of fauna. It is also a breeding ground for many
species of big cats like leopards and Bengal tigers.
● The
2018 census had yielded 2,413 rhinos and approximately 1,100 elephants.
● In
March 2020, Kaziranga National Park was selected as one among the 17 Iconic Tourist Sites of the country by
the Indian Government.
● The
National Highway 37 passes through
the parking area.
● Kaziranga
is also home to nine of the 14 species of primates found in the Indian
subcontinent.
● The
Kaziranga National Park has 250 plus seasonal water bodies, besides the Diphlu River running through it.