Tillari Conservation Reserve Notified
Why in News
The Maharashtra Government has declared 29.53 sq km area of Dodamarg forest range in Sindhudurg district as ‘Tillari Conservation Reserve’.
Key Points
- Tillari Conservation Reserve:
- Tillari is the seventh wildlife corridor in the state to be declared as a ‘conservation reserve’.
- The area covering nine villages in the forest range is known to serve as a corridor and even as a habitat for the population of tigers and elephants moving between the three states of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
- It connects Mhadei sanctuary in Goa and Bhimgad in Karnataka.
- It has semi-evergreen forest, tropical moist deciduous forests, and a number of unique trees, butterflies, and flowers.
- Conservation Reserves in Maharashtra:
- Maharashtra has 62 conservation reserves, of which 13 are in the western ghats.
- Tillari is a reserve in western ghats.
- Conservation Reserves in India:
- Conservation reserves and community reserves are terms denoting protected areas of the country which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests.
- Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities and community areas if part of the lands are privately owned.
- These protected area categories were first introduced in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 − the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
- These categories were added because of reduced protection in and around existing or proposed protected areas due to private ownership of land and land use.
- As of July 2019, there were 88 conservation reserves and 127 community reserves in India.