India's biodiversity is rich, often unique and increasingly endangered. India is one of the twelve megadiversity countries in the world, that collectively account for 60-70 percent of the world's biodiversity. Its ten biogeographic zones represent a broad range of ecosystems.

In this century alone, three sub-species of tiger were driven into extinction, the Bali, Javan and Caspian. Tragically, the other five sub-species are at risk of meeting the same fate. The tiger faces on onslaught of illegal killing throughout its range, and its forest habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate.

This book contains a conservation strategy for Maharashtra's biodiversity based on ecodevelopment, with special reference to Melghat tiger reserve.

The present framework for NGO involvement and environment education is based on a background of visits to a large number of PAs over the last tow decades and recent visits to TRs with a more specific purpose of focusing atentionon these issues.

The Pench tiger reserve is named after the Pench river which flows from north to south through the park. This river constitutes the district boundary of Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh in the upper region and state boundry with Maharashtra state in the lower region. This area became the 29th tiger reserve of India in 1992.