- Gogabeel is an ox-bow lake in Bihar’s Katihar district.It has been declared as the state’s first ‘Community Reserve’.
- The water body was also been notified as both Community Reserve and a conservation reserve.
- Gogabeel is formed from the flow of the rivers Mahananda and Kankhar in the north and the Ganga in the south and east.It is the fifteenth Protected Area(PA) in Bihar.
- Gogabeel is a permanent waterbody although it shrinks to some extent in the summer but never dries completely.More than 90 bird species have been recorded from this site of which about 30 are migratory.
- Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones between established national parks,wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India.
- Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities and community areas if part of the lands are privately owned.
- The administration of such reserves would be through local people and local agencies like the gram panchayat.
- An oxbow lake is a crescent-shaped lake lying alongside a winding river. The oxbow lake is created over time as erosion and deposits of soil change the river’s course.
