Agasthyarmalai in UNESCO’S World biosphere list

The certificate signed by the Director General of UNESCO was handed over by the Centre in a meeting held at the Chief Secretary’s chamber. The Agasthyarmalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR) is the only site considered from India by the International Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves during the Paris session held in 2015. That time, ABR was listed in the category of “nominations recommended for approval, pending the submission of specific information.” 

The ABR is situated at the southern-most end of the Western Ghats and spread over Kerala and Tamil Nadu and covers an area of 3,500 sq km at an altitude ranging from 100 metres to 1,868 metres above the Mean Sea Level. Researchers have noted that about 400 red listed plants have been recorded from ABR. About 125 species of orchids and rare, endemic and threatened plants have been recorded from the reserve. ABR is among the 669 biosphere reserves in as many as 120 countries.