Bhubaneswar: The Bhitarkanika sanctuary in Kendrapada district is likely to get World Heritage Site tag as it has been nominated along with eight other natural ecotourism spots to be included in the list.
A 5-member team from International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will visit Bhitarkanika sanctuary Friday to assess its potential for the coveted tag. The IUCN team Thursday met chief secretary AP Padhi and other senior state officials in this regard.
The team will examine various aspects of the sanctuary including protection, conservation, bio-diversity, inclusiveness of the area, people’s participation, tourism potential, livelihood of the people and environmental quality. It will then make the necessary recommendations to IUCN.
Speaking about community participation in maintenance of eco-sites, development commissioner R Balakrishnan said that respect and love for the natural eco-sites is an inherent part of Orissa’s culture due to which a number of eco-sites along the sea coast and hilly regions have been conserved and developed.
Bhitarkanika was declared a protected forest in 1961 and in 1975 672 sq km of its area was declared as wild life sanctuary while the core area of 145 sq km was declared a National Park in 1998.
The place has also received international recognitions. It was declared as a Ramsar site in 2002 while in 2008 it was included in the tentative list of World Heritage sites.
The forest area has more than 300 plant species of about 80 families including 94 species of mangroves and associates of 28 families. It has other unique features like largest number of salt water estuarine crocodiles in the world, 300 species of indigenous and migratory birds and mass nesting of Olive Ridley seas turtles.
Besides, the sanctuary is also houses 24 species of crabs including two species of horseshoe crabs.
Post News Network
