Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve on UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves

Background

Great Nicobar is the southernmost island of the Nicobar Islands archipelago, and the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve on it is listed by UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme with a Year of nomination of 2013. UNESCO records its Surface as 104,400.00 ha, all of it terrestrial, and says the island covers 103,870 ha of tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. The reserve contains a wide spectrum of ecosystems, including tropical wet evergreen forests, mountain ranges and coastal plains, and Mount Thullier reaches 642 m. About 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, bryophytes and lichens are recorded, with rare and endemic plants such as the tree fern Cyathea albosetacea and the orchid Phalaenopsis speciosa. In terms of fauna, over 1,800 species are recorded: a total of 14 mammal species, 71 bird species, 26 reptiles, 10 amphibians and 113 fish have been reported, and to date 11 mammals, 32 birds, seven reptiles and four amphibians are considered endemic. Notable endemic or threatened species include the crab-eating macaque, Nicobar tree shrew, dugong, Nicobar megapode, serpent eagle, saltwater crocodile, marine turtles and reticulated python. Like every biosphere reserve under the programme, it is zoned into core, buffer and transition areas.