Gupteswar forest in Odisha declared as Bio-Diversity Heritage site

Subject: Environment

Section: Protected Area

Context:

The pristine Gupteswar Forest, adjacent to Gupteswar Shiva temple in Odisha’s Koraput district has been declared as the fourth Biodiversity-Heritage Site ( BHS) of the state.

Details:

The state has now four BHSs. The other three are Mandasaru BHS in Kandhamala district, Mahendragiri BHS in Gajpati district, and Gandhamardan BHS in Bargarh and Bolangir districts.

About the Gupteswar forests:

The site is spread over 350 hectares of demarcated area. Along with its sacred grooves traditionally worshipped by the local community, the site is bestowed with a wide range of flora and fauna.
Biodiversity in the forest: there is the presence of at least 608 faunal species including 28 species of mammals, 188 species of birds, 18 species of amphibia, 48 species of reptiles, 45 species of Pisces, 141 species of butterflies, 43 species of moths, 41 species of odonates, 30 species of spiders, six species of scorpion, and 20 species of lower invertebrates.
- Threatened medicinal plants like Indian trumpet tree, Indian snakeroot, Cumbi gum tree, Garlic pear tree, Chinese fever vine, Rohituka tree, Jodpakli, Indian jointfir, a number of wild crop relatives of ginger and turmeric are found there.
Fauna: mugger crocodile, kanger valley rock gecko, sacred Grove Bush Frog, and avifauna like black baza, Jerdon’s baza, Malaber trogon, common hill myna, white-bellied woodpecker, and banded bay cuckoo.
- The limestone caves of Gupteswar are adorned with eight species of bats out of the total 16 species found in southern Odisha.
- Among them, two species Hipposideros galeritus and Rhinolophus rouxii are under the near-threatened category of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS):

Such sites are mentioned in Section 37 of the Biodiversity Act 2002.
According to the Act, these areas are areas that are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems which comprise any of: “species richness, high endemism, presence of rare, endemic and threatened species, keystone species, species of evolutionary significance, wild ancestors of domestic/cultivated species or landraces or their varieties, past pre-eminence of biological components represented by fossil beds and having cultural or aesthetic values.”
- The state government has the power to declare such a site within its jurisdiction. They need to consult the local bodies before doing so.
- They can also call for suggestions, or consider the sites that have already been suggested by the Biodiversity Management Committees and other such authorities.
- The rules for the management and conservation of such sites are made by the state governments themselves, in consultation with the Union Government.
- The state government can also frame the schemes to compensate or rehabilitate the people who get economically affected, and/or displaced due to any such declaration of a bio-heritage site.
- As of January 2024, India has 44 such sites.

Source: IE