Home › PYQs › Environment › Repeat & Gap Sheets › Biosphere Reserves

Biosphere Reserves: asked and not asked.

UPSC has asked 19 of these 22. 10 came more than once. 3 have not come yet. Lock the repeated ones first, then read the rest.

First, the concept

A biosphere reserve protects a whole landscape and the people living in it. It has three zones: a strictly protected core, a buffer around it, and an outer transition zone where people live and work.

The idea comes from UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme of 1971. India has 18 biosphere reserves; 13 of them are in UNESCO's world network (Cold Desert joined in 2025).

Nilgiri (1986) was India's first. UPPCS asks a reserve with its state, and which ones are on the UNESCO list.

🔁 Asked again and again (10)

Tap a year to open that solved question.

On the UNESCO list (13)

  • Nilgiri · Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka; India's first (1986) 5 times:20092008200520052005
  • Nanda Devi · Uttarakhand; includes the Valley of Flowers 4 times:2022202220152008
  • Nokrek · Garo hills, Meghalaya; wild citrus 3 times:202220222013
  • Agasthyamalai · Kerala–Tamil Nadu 3 times:201920192005
  • Gulf of Mannar · Tamil Nadu; marine, coral reefs and dugong 2 times:20082001
  • Panna · Madhya Pradesh; on the Ken river; UNESCO 2020 2 times:19911987

Not on the UNESCO list (5)

Zones and ideas

  • Buffer zone · Research, education, limited use 2 times:20011990

✅ Asked once (9)

On the UNESCO list (13)

  • Sundarbans · West Bengal; mangroves and tigers 1999
  • Simlipal · Odisha; tigers and elephants 2007
  • Great Nicobar · Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2017
  • Khangchendzonga · Sikkim; one of the highest-altitude reserves 2015

Not on the UNESCO list (5)

  • Dibru-Saikhowa · Assam; feral horses 2023
  • Dehang-Dibang · Arunachal Pradesh 2016

Zones and ideas

  • Core zone · No human activity; strictly protected
  • Man and the Biosphere programme · UNESCO, 1971
  • Transition zone · Villages, farming, sustainable use

❌ Not asked by UPSC yet (3)

Items marked 'asked in UPPCS' have already come in the UP state exam, so examiners do use them.

On the UNESCO list (13)

  • Pachmarhi · Satpura, Madhya Pradesh asked in UPPCS
  • Achanakmar-Amarkantak · Madhya Pradesh–Chhattisgarh asked in UPPCS
  • Cold Desert · Lahaul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh; UNESCO 2025; snow leopard asked in UPPCS

⚠️ Manas and Kachchh are biosphere reserves but not on the UNESCO list. Nokrek is in Meghalaya, not Assam. Panna is a biosphere reserve as well as a tiger reserve.

'Asked' is checked against the solved UPSC questions on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.

All Environment sheets ›