Bhitarkanika National Park

orrisa Geography and Environment

09-Sep-21

Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park is under severe threat due to the planned diversion of freshwater from the Brahmani river basin.

About:

=> Location: Kendrapara district in Odisha.

=> It became a Ramsar site in 2002 (the second site after Chilika Lake in Odisha).

=> Rivers: Brahmani, Baitarani, Dhamra, Pathsala.

=> It is India’s second-largest mangrove forest after the Sundarbans in West Bengal.

=> Species: Estuarine Crocodile (the largest population in the Indian subcontinent), Indian python, king cobra, black ibis, etc.

=> The floral diversity in Bhitarkanika is the 2nd largest after Papua New Guinea.

=> It is the only major mangrove patch of the State of Odisha.

About the Ramsar Convention

=> The Convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

=> It is one of the oldest intergovernmental treaties signed by member countries to preserve the ecological character of their wetlands of international importance.

=> The convention entered into force in India on 1 February 1982.

=> Aim: To develop and maintain an international network of wetlands that are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits.

=> Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines of the convention.