Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve:
The Supreme Court has ordered the immediate removal of encroachers and demolition of illegal structures across the ecologically sensitive Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve landscape in South India.
- It is located in the southern part of the Western Ghats spanning the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
- It was established as Biosphere Reserve in 2001 and added into the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves list in 2016.
- It includes protected areas namely
- Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary
- Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary
- Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary
- Kalakkad MundanthuraiT iger Reserve
- It comprises of tropical wet evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, montane rain forests and Shola.
- It is home to many species of higher plants including about many that are endemic.
- It includes the Asian elephant, tiger and Nilgiri Tahr and birds like Great Indian hornbill.
- It is home to the Kanikaran—one of the oldest surviving tribes in the world.
