A two-member technical evaluation mission team of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) deputed by the UNESCO, today visited the Bhitarkanika National Park here, officials said.
The objective of the visit is for the ground-zero assessment of the bio-diversity of the unique mangrove eco-system of park.
The national park, a bio-diversity treasure-trove, presently figures in the Ramsar international wetland site. The park figured on the tentative list of future heritage sites of UNESCO in 2009 and made its way to the final list in 2014.
The Odisha government had submitted a dossier, the compilation of which, was made by Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, recommending to UNESCO that the park be declared a World Heritage Site.
Earlier, in 1984, UNESCO had declared the Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha as a World Heritage Site.
"We hope Bhitarkanika gets the tag on merit and the visit of IUCN team is a move towards this direction. This will enable the park to get more funding from the government and international agencies and will also attract more tourists," said Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Forest Division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya.
Acharya said the local economy would receive the much-needed fillip after the park was declared as heritage site.
M Doak and Renco Van-merm, members of the IUCN technical evaluation team, said "the dossier provided to us by Odisha government has presented graphic details of Bhitarkanika's rich flora and fauna along with unique mangrove eco-system. We are visiting today and would stay here for four days to assess the bio-diversities. Today we caught glimpses of mangrove cover during the course of boat journey to Bhitarkanika."
Stating that the team interacted with local residents living on the fringes of forest area, Doka said "in the coming days, we'll pay visit to the core area of the national park and the surrounding water bodies. We'll also visit Wheelers' Island and Gahirmatha marine sanctuary. The bio-diversity, eco-system and local human habitation and socio-economic condition of locals and their dependence on forest produce will be assessed by us as it has been desired by UNESCO."
Bhitarkanika is a unique ecosystem, highly dynamic and at the same time fragile. The delta, the river mouth, the sea, mangrove forest, avian fauna, reptiles, amphibians and fauna and flora contribute to the park's biological diversity.
In 1974, the ministry of forest and environment, in collaboration with the UNDP, had started a crocodile hatchery and rearing project at Dangmal in the park.
Under the project, the crocodile population in the park increased from 96 in 1974 to 1,665 his January. Six years ago, the Guinness World Records recorded a 23-foot saltwater crocodile in Bhitarkanika as the largest in the world.
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