Goa National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries & Ramsar Sites

Mollem National Park and Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary

• Mollem National Park and Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary is located in the Western Ghats in Goa. National Highway 4A divides the park into two parts. It is home to waterfalls, such as Dudhsagar Falls (on the Mandovi River; it is Goa’s tallest waterfall and India’s 5^th tallest) and Tambdi Falls.
• It is also home to a community of nomadic buffalo herders known as the Dhangar.
• Vegetation: tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, and moist deciduous forests.
• Major Fauna: Leopard, Bengal tiger, bonnet macaque, gaur, Malabar giant squirrel, porcupine, slender loris.
• Major Avifauna: Greater Indian hornbill, ruby-throated yellow bulbul (the state bird of Goa).
• Threats: Mining & transport of manganese and iron ores.

Wildlife Sanctuaries of Goa

Dr. Salim Ali Bird (Chorao) Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is an estuarine mangrove habitat located on the Chorão Island along the Mandovi River.

Madei Wildlife Sanctuary (IBA)

• It is being considered to become a TR under Project Tiger.
• In 2020, a Royal Bengal tigress and her cubs were poisoned by villagers due to human-animal conflict in the Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Madei River passes through the Madei Wildlife Sanctuary and meets the sea at Panaji. The Madei River (in Karnataka), known downstream as the Mandovi River (in Goa), the lifeline of the state of Goa. The Madei river originates from springs at Bhimgad in Karnataka.

Mahadayi Water Dispute

• The sharing of the waters of the Madei (Mahadayi, Mandovi) River is a cause of dispute between Karnataka and Goa. The Karnataka government proposes to divert some water from the Mahadayi river to the Malaprabha River basin as part of the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project (drinking water supply to the districts of Belagavi, Bagalkot, Dharwad and Gadag in Karnataka). The issue of water sharing is now in the Supreme Court.

Ramsar Sites of Goa (1)

Nanda Lake

• It is an intermittent freshwater marsh adjacent to one of the tributaries of the Zuari River.