Tiger reserves consist of areas under national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger in 1973 to safeguard the habitats of conservation reliant species.
As of January 2023,[update] India has 106 national parks covering 44,402.95 square kilometres (17,144.07 sq mi), roughly 1.35% of the total geographical area of the country.
[3] Wildlife sanctuaries of India are classified as IUCN Category IV protected areas.
The Indian government has established 18 biosphere reserves[5] (categories roughly correspondingly to IUCN Category V Protected areas) to protect larger areas of natural habitat than a typical national park or animal sanctuary, and that often include one or more national parks or reserves, along with buffer zones that are open to some economic uses.
Conservation Areas in India refer to well-demarcated large geographical entities with an established conservation plan, and were part of a joint Indo-US project on "landscape management and protection".