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  Location — Mungeli district near Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, in the Maikal range of the Satpura hills

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  Tiger reserve — declared under Project Tiger in 2009 as the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve

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  Biosphere reserve — forms the core of the Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve, which extends into Madhya Pradesh

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  Rivers — the Maniyari river, a tributary of the Shivnath, originates within the sanctuary

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  Vegetation — predominantly sal forest with extensive bamboo

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  Fauna — tiger, leopard, gaur, chital, sambar, sloth bear and wild dog

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  Communities — the Baiga and Gond tribal communities live in and around the reserve

Achanakmar's importance is hydrological as much as faunal. It sits on the Maikal range beside the Amarkantak plateau, the point from which the Narmada flows west and the Son flows east — a watershed that divides the drainage of central India. Forest cover in this belt governs how much rainfall infiltrates and how much runs off, so degradation here has consequences far downstream in two major river basins at once. The reserve also illustrates the recurring tension in Indian tiger conservation between habitat protection and the rights of forest-dwelling communities: the Baiga, a particularly vulnerable tribal group, have historically lived within this landscape, and relocation from core areas has been contested here as in other reserves. For a Mains answer, Achanakmar works well as an example where the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and the requirements of a tiger reserve's inviolate core area meet directly.

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  Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary: Mungeli district, Chhattisgarh, in the Maikal range

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  Declared a tiger reserve in 2009

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  Core of the Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve, spanning Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh

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  Maniyari river, a tributary of the Shivnath, rises here

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  Nearby Amarkantak is the source of the Narmada and the Son

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  Sal and bamboo forests

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  Home to the Baiga and Gond communities