Khangchendzonga National Park Explained

Khangchendzonga National Park
Map:India Sikkim#India
Relief:1
Label:Kanchenjunga NP
Iucn Category:II
Location:Mangan district and Gyalshing district, Sikkim, India
Nearest Town:Chungthang
Coordinates:27.6563°N 88.3123°W
Area Km2:1784
Established:1977
Governing Body:Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India

Khangchendzonga National Park, also Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve, is a national park and a biosphere reserve located in Sikkim, India. It was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in July 2016, becoming the first "Mixed Heritage" site of India.[1] It was included in the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. The park is named after the mountain Kangchenjunga, which is the third-highest peak in the world at tall. The total area of the park is .

Geography

Khangchendzonga National Park covers an area of in Mangan district and Gyalshing district at an elevation of to over . It is one of the few high-altitude national parks of India and was designated a mixed-criteria UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2016.

In the north, it adjoins Qomolangma National Nature Preserve in Tibet, and in the west Kanchenjunga Conservation Area in Nepal.[2]

Flora

The vegetation of the park include temperate broadleaf and mixed forests consisting of oaks, fir, birch, maple and willow.[3] Alpine grasses and shrubs occur at higher elevations along with many medicinal plants and herbs.[4]

Fauna

About 550 species of birds occur in the park including blood pheasant, satyr tragopan, osprey, Himalayan griffon, lammergeier,several species of green pigeon, Tibetan snowcock, snow pigeon, impeyan pheasant, Asian emerald cuckoo, sunbirds and eagles.[3] The dhole has been recorded by camera traps at elevations of .[5]

Notes and References

  1. O'Neill . A. . 2017 . Sikkim claims India's first mixed-criteria UNESCO World Heritage Site . Current Science . 112 . 5 . 893–994 . 2017-05-11 . 29 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170329020240/http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/112/05/0893.pdf . live .
  2. Book: Bhuju, U. R. . Shakya, P. R. . Basnet, T. B. . Shrestha, S. . amp . 2007 . Nepal Biodiversity Resource Book. Protected Areas, Ramsar Sites, and World Heritage Sites . International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, in cooperation with United Nations Environment Programme, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific . Kathmandu . 978-92-9115-033-5 . Kanchenjunga Conservation Area . 10 January 2021 . 5 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210505155053/https://lib.icimod.org/record/7560 . live.
  3. O'Neill . A. R.. 2019 . Evaluating high-altitude Ramsar wetlands in the Sikkim Eastern Himalayas . Global Ecology and Conservation . 20 . e00715 . 19 . 10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00715. free.
  4. O'Neill . A. R. . Badola . H.K. . Dhyani . P. P. . Rana . S. K. . 2017 . Integrating ethnobiological knowledge into biodiversity conservation in the Eastern Himalayas . Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine . 13 . 1 . 21 . 10.1186/s13002-017-0148-9 . 28356115 . 5372287 . free.
  5. Bashir, T. . Bhattacharya, T. . Poudyal, K. . Roy, M. . Sathyakumar, S. . 2014 . Precarious status of the Endangered Dhole Cuon alpinus in the high elevation Eastern Himalayan habitats of Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, India . Oryx . 48 . 1 . 125–132 . 10.1017/S003060531200049X . free.