National Park vs Wildlife Sanctuary

There are plenty of differences between a national park, wildlife sanctuary and biosphere reserve. The national park is acknowledged as a natural park that is used for conservation purposes. The national governments of a country create and protect them. Most often, national parks become reserves of semi-natural, natural, or developed lands that sovereign states own or declare. Though individual nations assign their national parks differently, all of them work on a common idea, and that is to conserve wild nature for the future as well as national pride. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) an intl. The organisation and its WCPA (World Commission on Protected Areas) acknowledge national parks as Category II kind of protected areas. 

Characteristics of a National Park

National parks are huge areas of public places that are set aside for animals, native plants, and places where they live. These parks shield places that have natural beauty. Again, national parks happen to be home to countless endemic species too. Additionally, they also shield places that are vital to the Aboriginal people. A national park is a protected area, and the main purpose of a protected area is the conservation of biodiversity. 

People require clean water, healthy food, and fresh air, and in their absence, people die. Again, the leaves of plants create fresh air. Their roots do hold the soil together, and they stop erosion besides keeping the waterways clean. A national park has got many plants, and so they play vital roles in keeping the environment healthy and clean. People relax and enjoy themselves in a national park. Additionally, they do some other things too, like skiing, mountaineering, swimming, painting, taking photographs, taking in the fresh air, and enjoying the view.

These places become places where everybody gets to learn different things about animals and native plants and the method by which they depend on one another.

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What are a Wildlife Sanctuary and Biosphere Reserve?

Wildlife sanctuaries are places that are particularly created for captive animals that turn unwanted for various reasons. Many people buy tigers when they happen to be little cubs. At that time, they can take very good care of them. But, when they become grown-up tigers, then the owners realise the difficulties of taking care of them. Every tiger needs lots of space, and they are expensive too. This is when animals go to wildlife sanctuaries. Commonly, a wildlife sanctuary becomes the best choice when circuses and roadside zoos fail to take very good care of animals for various financial reasons.

With time, animal circuses are becoming less popular, particularly in highly developed nations. Again, some cities, as well as countries, ban the usage of animals too in circuses. In this situation, a wildlife sanctuary proposes care to the abused and neglected animals for good. So, wildlife sanctuaries do not sell or breed animals, and animals that reach a wildlife sanctuary continue to stay there till they die from natural causes.

Features of Wildlife Sanctuary

• A wildlife sanctuary is a natural area that a private agency or the government reserves for protecting a specific species.

• The area of the wildlife sanctuary is designed for protecting wild animals.

• Only animals get conserved in a wildlife sanctuary, and these animals could turn into private properties too. 

• In a wildlife sanctuary, outside activities are forbidden.

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An Overview of a Biosphere Reserve

A biosphere reserve is acknowledged as a learning place where sustainable development takes place. These places turn into sites where various interdisciplinary approaches are tested for understanding as well as managing interactions and changes between ecological and social systems, and they comprise prevention of conflicts and management of biodiversity. Biosphere reserves are places that propose local solutions to some global challenges, and they comprise marine, coastal, and terrestrial ecosystems. 

Every site endorses solutions that reconcile the upkeep of biodiversity along with its sustainable usage. The national governments nominate biosphere reserves, and they continue to remain under the states’ jurisdiction where they are situated. 

So these are the main differences between a wildlife sanctuary and biosphere reserves.

What are the Zones of a Biosphere Reserve?

There are three zones of a biosphere reserve:

• Core Zone – The care zone is a lawfully protected area, and here, human intervention remains strictly prohibited. This is also the innermost uninterrupted ecosystem. People get various kinds of information from these places for assessing the sustainability of activities or maintaining environmental quality in some surrounding areas.

• Buffer Zone – This is the area that surrounds the core zone. Here, humans are permitted only education and research activities. These activities must not hinder the objectives of conservation of the core place. The buffer zone also comprises activities that aid people in managing natural vegetation, fisheries, agricultural land, or forests for improving the production quality. People might also use the buffer zone for tourism and recreation facilities, and human activities tend to be less intensive in this zone.  

• Manipulation Zone – The manipulation zone is known as the peripheral region of the biosphere reserves. Here, some human activities, such as recreation, cropping, settlements, and forestry, are allowed with the help of reserve management as well as local people. With the help of these activities, some degraded areas get their natural forms. Scientists, local communities, cultural groups, conservation agencies, and various stakeholders do a job in the manipulation zone for human beings’ welfare. 

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National Park vs Wildlife Sanctuary - Differences

There is a huge difference between wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserves and national parks though they all are designated places to protect animals, wild plants, and natural habitats. Living organisms do exist nearly everywhere, beginning from ocean depths to mountain peaks, from rainforests to the deserts. And so, it becomes the duty of humans to conserve, preserve, and manage biodiversity. Biodiversity preservation is also important for the non-stop functioning of our planet as a whole.

For instance, if any imbalance occurs because of human activities, then it results in the extermination of species that happen to be vital for the survival of humans. And so, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, and biosphere reserves turn into designated places to protect animals, natural habitats, and wild plants.

National Park vs. Sanctuary

A national park is given a higher degree of protection, and a wildlife sanctuary is referred to as a place that protects wild animals.

Some Interesting and Unknown Facts and Differences Between National Park Wildlife Sanctuaries and Biosphere Reserves Include:       

• For protecting flora and fauna, different governments form national parks, biosphere reserves, and wildlife sanctuaries.

• A biosphere reserve is a huge one, and at times, biosphere reserves have wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in them.

• A biosphere reserve is recognised as a term that is provided to an area to conserve resources of the biosphere. Biosphere reserves are also important for improving the relationships between the environment and humans. 

• If you compare national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves in India, there are 543 wildlife sanctuaries in India.

• In some cases, a biosphere reserve turns out to be useful for testing and illustrating integrated water, soil, and biodiversity mgmt in living laboratories.

• In a national park, ideal attention is provided to the gene pool besides its conservation. Contrarily, in a biosphere reserve, no attention is provided to gene pools. Again, there is an absence of a fixed boundary too in a national park, whereas there are fixed boundaries in a biosphere reserve.

Most students are asked to differentiate between national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. National parks are lands that the government owns, and they get shielded from human exploitation, population, and industrialisation. As the name suggests, a wildlife sanctuary is a place that remains reserved for wildlife use only, and they comprise reptiles, animals, birds, insects, etc.