A two-member technical evaluation mission team of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), deputed by UNESCO, visited the Bhitarkanika National Park on Friday.
The visit is to perform field assessment of the unique mangrove ecosystem of the park, which figured on the tentative list of future heritage sites of UNESCO in 2009 and made its way to the final list in 2014. The national park presently figures in the listed of protected wetlands under the Ramsar Convention.
The Odisha government had submitted a dossier, compiled by Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, recommending to UNESCO that the park be declared a World Heritage Site.
In 1984, UNESCO had declared the Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha as a World Heritage Site.
“We hope Bhitarkanika gets the tag on merit and the visit of IUCN team is a move towards this direction. This will enable the park to get more funding from the government and international agencies and will also attract more tourists,” said Bimal Prasanna Acharya, divisional forest officer, Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) forest division.
Mr. Acharya said the local economy would receive a boost if the park was declared a heritage site.
M. Doak and Remco van Merm, members of the IUCN technical evaluation team, said, “The dossier provided to us by Odisha government has presented graphic details of Bhitarkanika’s rich flora and fauna along with its unique mangrove ecosystem. We are visiting today and would stay here for four days to assess the biodiversity.”
The team interacted with local residents living on the fringes of the forest area. The team plans to tour the core area of the national park and the surrounding water bodies. Wheelers’ Island and the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary are also on the itinerary.
The biodiversity, ecosystem and local human habitation and socio-economic condition of locals and their dependence on forest produce will be assessed.
Bhitarkanika is a unique ecosystem, highly dynamic and at the same time fragile. The delta, the river mouth, the sea, mangrove forest, avian fauna, reptiles, amphibians and fauna and flora contribute to the park’s biological diversity.
In 1974, the Ministry of Forests, in collaboration with UNDP, had started a crocodile hatchery project at Dangmal in the park.
The crocodile population in the park has increased from 96 in 1974 to 1,665 this January.
