UNESCO allots India’s Panna Tiger Reserve the ‘Biosphere Reserve’ status.
Panna is now UNESCO’s 12th Biosphere reserve in India.
It brought its tiger population back from zero to 54 in ten years.
In 2009, the entire tiger population had been eliminated by poaching.
Two female tigers were relocated there from Bandhavgarh National Park and Kanha National Park in March 2009.
Panna was designated a biosphere reserve by India in 2011.
It is the third in Madhya Pradesh after Pachmarhi and Amarkantak.
Recent issue
The Government of India along with Government of Madhya Pradesh and Government of Uttar Pradesh have planned to link the Ken River with Betwa River along this reserve.
This is the country’s first river interlinking project.
This involves construction of 283 km long Daudhan Dam.
It provides water access to the drought prone region of Bundelkhand.
Panna is characterized by forests and marshy vegetation.
It spans 576 kilo meters in Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh
It is a critical tiger habitat area and hosts the Panna Tiger Reserve.
It also hosts the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Khajuraho Group of Monuments.
It was declared in 1993 as the twenty second Tiger reserve of India and the fifth in Madhya Pradesh.
12 of the 18 biosphere reserves in India are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.