E-Paper
Eco-sensitive zones of 0 km notified by 60 national parks: Study
Several states did not notify large ESZs in view of ongoing or upcoming infrastructure projects along the wildlife sanctuaries.
A preliminary analysis of 109 national parks and sanctuaries in India by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy has found that 60 national parks have notified a minimum eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of 0 km . This would mean they have no ESZ on one or more of the sides/ borders of these sanctuaries.
Out of the 109 sanctuaries for which data was assessed by Vidhi, 18 have an ESZ range of 0.01km to 0.5 km; 12 have an ESZ range of 0.6 to 1 km and only 3 have a range of 1.1 km to 5km. There are 567 wildlife sanctuaries and 106 national parks in the country and Vidhi is continuing with its study.
Several sanctuaries have also notified a larger area as the maximum extent of ESZ. For Maharashtra’s Melghat Tiger Reserve for example, the maximum ESZ is 10 km; for Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram it is 11.44 km and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve has a minimum ESZ of 0 and maximum of 33.65 kms. The ESZ range of Nameri National Park and Sonai-Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary is 0 (zero) to 48 km. Notification of ESZ for 12 of the 109 assessed is pending.
Several states did not notify large ESZs in view of ongoing or upcoming infrastructure projects along the wildlife sanctuaries. Galathea National Park in Great Nicobar, for example, had notified an ESZ of 0 to 1 km around the boundary of Galathea National Park as eco-sensitive zone in 2021.
The reason provided for not notifying a larger ESZ was that there is hardly any area left for holistic development in Great Nicobar. Niti Aayog’s Holistic Development of the Great Nicobar Island (GNI) is coming up along the Galathea National Park.
The ongoing analysis is relevant because the Supreme Court last week modified its June 2022 order that ruled each national park and wildlife sanctuary must have a minimum eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of 1km, measured from the demarcated boundary of such protected forest, while also lifting a complete ban on development and construction activities within ESZs.
The ESZ notification for Galathea National Park issued by the union environment ministry, and seen by HT, states: “The minimum extent is ‘zero’ as the major geographical area of the Great Nicobar Island where the Park is located, is covered under Protected Areas Network and Tribal Reserves; therefore, there is hardly any area left for holistic development. Further, to protect the development and inhabitants from unforeseen natural disasters like Tsunami, rising water level, a 750 meters buffer is proposed with guidelines all along the coastline for development. This requires the developable area to be located away from the coast and near the National Park boundary. The Island has tremendous strategic significance for the country and the Government of India is in the process of development of strategic projects on this side; therefore, there is no scope for Eco-sensitive Zone left.”
Galathea National park is one of the best preserved tropical rain forests in the world and shows a high degree of endemism owing to its geographic location and physical isolation. The National Park also has elements from the Indo-Chinese and Indo-Malayan regions according to the ESZ notification. Galathea National park is known to harbor an exceptional variety of wildlife, the major threatened and endemic fauna recorded from the national park are Nicobar Crab eating Macaque, Nicobar Wild Pig, Dugong, Nicobar Tree Shrew among others. It is also abode to one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, the Shompens, who are hunter-gatherers and solely dependent on the forest resources as the Galathea National Park, it adds.
Debadityo Sinha, Lead- Climate & Ecosystems, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy who had sought documents under RTI to understand the justification for declaring ESZ of 0 km for Galathea National Park found that it was to accommodate projects that would come up in the future. The Andaman and Nicobar Administration in a letter to union environment ministry dated January 18, 2021 stated that as per the vision document of Niti Aayog a contiguous stretch of land is required on the southeastern and southwestern part of the island which has a narrow strip from the Galathea National Park. With this area being earmarked for projects such as a port and others earmarked for future strategic use, the administration proposed the ESZ to be a minimum of 0 km.
Other national parks have provided other justifications. Interstate and international boundaries are one of the issues for keeping ESZ 0 in some states. In other cases, it’s to accommodate various infrastructure and other projects or dense habitations that had already come up. The ESZ of Dibru Saikhowa National Park for example is a minimum of 0 km to a maximum of 8.7 km around the boundary of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and the area is 658.251 square kilometres. “Zero extent of ESZ was justified as “Existence of crude oil and natural gas in the immediate vicinity of the southern side of the National Park boundary,” the notification dated January 28, 2020 states. In 2020 there was a blow out at the Baghjan Gas field near the national park. Experts who assessed the impact said there was environmental damage to the nearby Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Maguri-Motapung Wetland.
The Dibru Saikhowa National Park represents a unique geo-morphological structure created by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, and the water channels, especially the Brahmaputra, forming an important habitat for the Indo-Gangetic Dolphins. In winter dried up riverbeds as well as the river sandbars serve for the development of alluvial grassland which are not only an excellent habitat for the critically endangered Bengal florican, but also serve as migration route for the elephants in the Dibru-Dangori elephant corridor, and provide safe passage to tigers to Arunachal Pradesh, the notification states.
The notification of ESZs is pending for several national parks including some prominent ones such as the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand; Kaziranga and Manas Tiger Reserves in Assam.
The purpose of declaring eco-sensitive zones around national parks and sanctuaries is to create some kind of “shock absorber” for the protected areas. They would also act as the transition zone from areas of high protection to areas involving lesser protection.
Many protected areas have already undergone tremendous development in close vicinity to their boundaries. Some protected areas are lying in urban set ups. Therefore, defining ESZ has to be kept flexible and protected area specific. However, as a general principle ESZs could go upto 10 kms around a protected area as provided in the Wildlife Conservation Strategy-2002, MoEFCC states in its 2011 guidelines.
This leaves several wildlife and biodiversity reserves in India without much and in some cases any buffer around them.
“Habitat fragmentation is a real threat and has driven many species to become locally extinct and increases human-wildlife conflict. Most Protected Areas in India now exists as small, isolated patches of islands in mosaic of human created barriers. Future of India’s biodiversity depends on how well we preserve and maintain landscape continuity and species movement between Protected Areas. States must declare ESZs because it is needed for species and the ecosystems, and not just out of a compliance burden,” said Debadityo Sinha, Lead- Climate & Ecosystems, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
“It is a well understood fact that wildlife doesnt rest up to only the boundary. If the protected areas are rich in biodiversity, they will come out and move in to adjoining forest areas and corridors. So, we need to ensure minimum amount of disturbance to wildlife and there can be no sharp change in their environment,” said Harendra Bargali, deputy director, The Corbett Foundation.
A bench led by Justice BR Gavai last week noted that its 2022 order on uniform ESZs was not workable and that its directive prohibiting all development activities within such zones is “impossible to be implemented”.
