Why in the News?
The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL) has decided to review and revise the 2011 guidelines on the declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
What are Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs)?
- Overview: ESZs, also called Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs), are areas notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) around Protected Areas (PAs) like national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
- Purpose:
- Act as “shock absorbers” to protect areas by regulating potentially harmful activities.
- Serve as transition zones from highly protected to less protected ecosystems.
- Help conserve biodiversity, maintain landscape connectivity, and prevent fragmentation of habitats.
- Legal Basis:
- Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, particularly Section 3(2)(v).
- Rule 5(1) of Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.
- Wildlife Conservation Strategy, 2002: Recommended declaring 10 km radius around PAs as default ESZ.
- Demarcation Process:
- ESZ boundaries vary in width based on ecological sensitivity and ground realities.
- Factors considered: species presence, migration routes, landscape linkage, human settlements, etc.
- Activity Zonation:
- Prohibited: Commercial mining, polluting industries, major hydro projects, wood logging.
- Regulated: Tree felling, large-scale agriculture change, road widening, tourism infrastructure.
- Permitted: Rainwater harvesting, organic farming, green energy use.
- Present Status:
- 347 final notifications issued.
- Where no ESZ is notified, a default 10-km ESZ is applicable (SC 2022 ruling).
2011 Guidelines on ESZs:
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Recent Context:
- Reasons Behind: Revision One-size-fits-all (10-km blanket rule) is not effective:
- Urban examples: Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Mumbai), Asola Bhatti Sanctuary (Delhi).
- In Himachal Pradesh, ~65% area already under forest cover.
- Kerala: Fear of new sanctuary leading to more restrictions.
- Over-generalized: Existing guidelines unsuitable for marine sanctuaries, need ecosystem-specific norms.
| [UPSC 2014] With reference to ‘Eco-Sensitive Zones’, which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. Eco-Sensitive Zones are the areas that are declared under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. 2. The purpose of the declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones is to prohibit all kinds of human activities in those zones except agriculture. Select the correct answer using the code given below. Options: (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 * |
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