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