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UPPCS Environment Gap Sheet: Biosphere Reserves.
UPPCS has asked 19 of these. 3 have not been asked yet. Lock the first list, then read the second: it holds what UPPCS has not used yet.
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.
✅ Already asked (19)
On the UNESCO list (13)
- Nilgiri · Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka; India's first (1986)
- Gulf of Mannar · Tamil Nadu; marine, coral reefs and dugong
- Sundarbans · West Bengal; mangroves and tigers
- Nanda Devi · Uttarakhand; includes the Valley of Flowers
- Nokrek · Garo hills, Meghalaya; wild citrus
- Pachmarhi · Satpura, Madhya Pradesh
- Simlipal · Odisha; tigers and elephants
- Achanakmar-Amarkantak · Madhya Pradesh–Chhattisgarh
- Great Nicobar · Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Agasthyamalai · Kerala–Tamil Nadu
- Khangchendzonga · Sikkim; one of the highest-altitude reserves
- Panna · Madhya Pradesh; on the Ken river; UNESCO 2020
- Cold Desert · Lahaul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh; UNESCO 2025; snow leopard
Not on the UNESCO list (5)
- Kachchh · Gujarat; the largest biosphere reserve by area
- Manas · Assam; also a World Heritage site
- Dibru-Saikhowa · Assam; feral horses
- Dehang-Dibang · Arunachal Pradesh
Zones and ideas
- Core zone · No human activity; strictly protected
- Man and the Biosphere programme · UNESCO, 1971
❌ Not asked yet (3)
Items marked 'asked in other exams' have come in UPSC or other state exams, not yet in UPPCS.
Not on the UNESCO list (5)
- Seshachalam · Andhra Pradesh; red sanders asked in other exams
Zones and ideas
- Buffer zone · Research, education, limited use asked in other exams
- Transition zone · Villages, farming, sustainable use asked in other exams
⚠️ 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' and 'not asked' are checked against every UPPCS question on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.