National Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife Sanctuaries

Abstract

Bhutan’s wondrous ecosystem diversity derives from its unique geographical location between the Palearctic realm of the temperate Euro-Asia and Indian subcontinent realms, a region comprising 3 of the Global 200 ecoregions (30 global biomes): the Eastern Himalayan Alpine Meadows, the Eastern Himalayan Broadleaf and Conifer Forests, and the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands. Valleys in the inner mountains receive less than 800 mm of precipitation, while the lowlands receive as much as 5500 mm of rainfall. The country encompasses a range of ecosystems from subtropical forests in the southern foothills at an elevation of 150 m to mid-elevation temperate forests, to the northern alpine zone above 7000 m.