National parks in India are IUCN category II protected areas. India's first national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, now known as Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand. By 1970, India only had five national parks. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard the habitats of conservation reliant species.
Further federal legislation strengthening protections for wildlife was introduced in the 1980s. As of July 2015, there were 103 national parks encompassing an area of 40,500 km2 (15,600 sq mi), comprising 1.23% of India's total surface area.
Plans are underway to establish many more national parks in India. All of India's national parks are listed below alongside their home state or territory, area and the date that they were established. See Protected areas of India for an overview of all Indian protected areas.
List
List of national parks.
Footnotes
1The Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh parts of the Pench National Park are administered separately.
2The Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh parts of the Sanjay National Park are administered separately.
See also
- Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education
References
- Directory of Wildlife Protected Areas in India
- ENVIS Centre, WII, Dehradun
- List of Proposed National Parks
External links
- National Parks in India
- Useful blog on National Parks in India