Recently, the Odisha government has declared
the Gupteswar forest in Koraput district as its
fourth Biodiversity Heritage Site.
Biodiversity Heritage sites (BHS) are well
defined ecologically fragile ecosystems with a
high diversity of wild and domesticated species.
They are notified by the state government
under ‘The Biological Diversity Act, 2002’ in
consultation with ‘local bodies’.
The Nallur Tamarind Grove in Bengaluru,
Karnataka, was India’s first Biodiversity
Heritage Site, declared in 2007. As of February
2024, India has a total of 45 such sites, according
to the National Biodiversity Authority.