GANGA 64th Issue | Page 7

Newsletter No. 64; Manas was proposed a Reserve Forest in 1905, and declared a Reserve Forest in 1907. In 1928, it was declared a Game Sanctuary. Manas 1950. Manas was declared as Biosphere Reserve under Man & Biosphere Programme of UNESCO (total area – about 2837 Km2) in 1989. Manas was declared as a National Park in 1990. Total area of Manas is recognized not only for its rich biodiversity but also for its spectacular scenery and natural landscape which includes a range of forested hills, Special Feature:- Watershed programs in India Game Sanctuary was declared as a Wildlife Sanctuary in the park is about 500 Km2. IRBMS alluvial grasslands and tropical evergreen forests. Its home to India’s second-largest tiger population. Manas harbours the maximum number of endangered species from India as listed in the IUCN Red Book. About the half of the Park is covered by Grasslands We all live in a watershed; the area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, aquifer or even the ocean and our individual actions direct impact on it. Conservation of water using a watershed approach helps to protect nation's water resources. A watershed approach is the most effective framework to address today's water resource challenges in India. Watersheds supply drinking water, provide irrigation and sustain life. Most of our GDP depends on clean water and healthy watersheds. The target of an effective watershed approach should be to gather every drops of water from precipitation. of Terai and Bhabar type, the riparian areas have An assessment by the Centre for Science and colonizing grasslands and woodlands of several Environment (Agarwal, 2000) estimates that if half species. The thick woodlands are called Eastern of India’s average annual rainfall of 1 170 mm were Moist Deciduous Forests of various types. Twenty- captured over 1.12 ha of land in each of the one animal species listed in Schedule 1 of India’s country’s 587 226 villages, then the 6.57 million national Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 live in the liters of rainwater thus collected would meet the grassland ecosystem of the park, including tigers, annual cooking and drinking needs for an average Asian golden village of 1200 people. Doing this would help both langurs and golden cats, hispid hares, swamp deer, to sustain surface water supplies and to recharge gaur and clouded leopards. aquifers. elephants, (Contd...) one-horned rhinos, In spite of various Govt. funded watershed development programmes set up to complement the drinking-water programmes in villages did not 7 Integrated River Basin Management Society