Chhattisgarh’s Kanger Valley National Park Eyes UNESCO World Heritage Site Status
Wildlife Institute to survey Bastar park’s biodiversity for UNESCO recognition
Raipur: The Chhattisgarh government has stepped up efforts to secure the famed Kanger Valley National Park in Bastar in the state, the official status of a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site.
The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has been assigned the task of conducting a survey on the rich biodiversity of the national park for presentation before UNESCO to declare it an official World Heritage Site, officials said on Friday.
Currently, the national park and the archaeological site of Sirpur in east Chhattisgarh figure in the ‘Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites’.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the national park, Naveen Kumar, confirmed to this newspaper on Friday that an initiative has been taken to secure official status of World Heritage Site for it.
Kanger Valley National Park, located in Jagdalpur in Bastar district, was designated as a national park in 1982.
The national park encompasses an area of 200 sq km.
The entire national park is full of seasonal and perennial streams that join the Kanger River. The park’s exceptional qualities are different geomorphological features and different ecosystems.
The vast undulating terrain of the national park harbors diverse and significant habitats, including the subterranean limestone caves, which offer an ideal site for diverse kinds of flora, fauna, making it a hotspot of biodiversity as well as geological diversity in the Indian sub-continent.
The subterranean limestone caverns are unique and biologically more diverse among the caves studied in India as well as South Asia.
The national park is known for its rich floral and faunal diversity.
The archaeological site of Sirpur, an ancient town situated on the bank of Mahanadi River, was a significant administrative and cultural hub from the fifth to 12th centuries, featuring Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain monuments.
Sirpur archaeological site is seeking cultural heritage status by UNESCO.
Both sites are on UNESCO’s tentative list.