News: Recently, UNESCO officially announced the designation of the Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve in India, as part of 26 new sites added to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR).
About Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve
Source: spitiwildlifedivision.in
Location
It is located in the Western Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul-Spiti district.
It is stretched along the Western Himalayas, from Ladakh to Kinnaur, in Himachal Pradesh.
Established in
It was established in 2009.
Key Features
It is India’s 16th biosphere reserve and India’s first high-altitude cold desert biosphere reserve.
It is also one of the coldest and driest ecosystems in UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR).
The reserve includes Pin Valley National Park and its surrounding areas.
It also covers Baralacha Pass, Bharatpur, Chandratal Lake, Sarchu, and the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary.
It covers an area of about 7,770 km² and altitude ranges from 3,300 to 6,600 meters above sea level.
The landscape includes windswept plateaus, glacial valleys, alpine lakes, and rugged high-altitude deserts.
About 12,000 people live in scattered villages, practicing herding, farming, and Tibetan herbal medicine, with traditions upheld by Buddhist monasteries and community councils.
Flora
It is home to 655 herb species, 41 shrub species, and 17 tree species, including 14 endemics and 47 medicinal plants vital to the Sowa Rigpa/Amchi system.
It also includes 20 fodder species in the whole Spiti region, and more than 66 species of plants have some economic importance for local communities.
Some important plants being used locally include Hippophae rhamnoides, Salix spp, Betula utilis, Myricaria germanica, Aconitum heterophyllum (EN) etc.
Fauna
Species such as Himalayan black bear, Himalayan blue sheep, Himalayan ibex, snow pigeon, woolly hare, etc are found here.
Some of the threatened fauna: Snow Leopard, Himalayan Griffon, Bearded Vulture/ Lammergeier, Red Fox, Himalayan Brown Bear, Tibetan Gazelle, Mountain weasel, etc
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