Wildlife act in india pdf

It said that the restrictions imposed were reasonable as the legislative intent was to plug the loopholes in the Act. In this case, the appellants imported ivory from African countries and manufactured several articles out of them.

They filed a writ petition questioning the constitutional validity of the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act as the Act prohibited trade of imported ivory, which affected their rights under Article 19 1 g of the Indian Constitution. The famous case of Veerappan also highlights the extent of wildlife crime.

He killed people and elephants for the purposes of poaching and smuggling. He was later killed in October in Operation Cocoon. Ecological restoration of the natural habitats and migratory routes is another important feature of this project. An elephant task force was also established by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to spread the idea of friendship between elephants and people Take Gajah to the Prajah.

Elephant Corridors are narrow strips of forested lands which act as a bridge to larger elephant habitats. This conduit is essential for the movement of the elephants and to enhance the survival rate of the species in the wild.

The elephants also have a right to passage. In this case, some elephants died after the wall was built. It was determined that there was a destruction of the environment through the establishment of the wall.

It was held in the case of Vellore Citizens Forum vs. Union of Indi a , that these aforementioned principles are essential features of sustainable development. Further, it was ruled that no power fencing could be erected on the elephant corridors. This judgment was upheld by the Supreme Court. There are approximately 88 elephant corridors in India and are distributed in the following manner. The corridors are categorized into high ecological priority and medium priority.

The categorization is on the basis of the regularity of elephant movement, the size of the population, the area of habitats connected and the presence of other routes nearby. The corridors are also graded on the basis of conservation feasibility. Further, only about The major threat to these corridors is the loss of habitat due to fragmentation of forests and other protected areas. The fragmentation is due to an increase in human activities and industrialization, which includes mining activities.

Godavarman Thirumulpad vs. It is crucial that there should be a fusion of elephant corridors with nearby protected areas and reserved forests. In other areas, ecologically sensitive areas or conservation reserves can be declared. This is because the elephants have a habit of constantly foraging for food and water, and they are threatened due to habitat loss, degradation or shrinkage.

These paths allow them to move freely and uninterrupted. It is important that awareness is spread and sensitization takes place. The Supreme Court in the case of A. Rangarajan vs. Union of India , passed an order in to shut down 27 resorts and hotels that were built illegally on the Nilgiris Elephant Corridors without prior approval.

This endangered the safe passage, which is the basic purpose of an elephant corridor. Apart from the project, there are other programs which have been implemented for the protection of elephants. This program began in in South Asia. There are approximately 45 countries across the world which are included in the program. The aim is to provide information which the elephant range countries require for making proper arrangements and enforcement decisions. It is also for the promotion of institutional capacity in these States for long term conservation and management of the elephants.

The objectives of the program are to measure the rate of illegal poaching of elephants, to determine factors responsible for changes in the elephant population, and collection of data on a monthly basis from all MIKE sites. The aim is to improve the protection, conservation and welfare of elephants in India. The campaign was launched at the Elephant-8 ministerial meeting held in Delhi, in The objective of the campaign is to spread public awareness and for developing friendship and companionship between the local public and elephants.

The campaign also envisions setting up of Gajah Centres in elephant landscapes across the country, to spread awareness about their plights and invoke public participation. The mascot of the campaign is Gaju. This project came to be known as Project Hangul. It is also the state animal of Jammu and Kashmir.

The project was started since Hanguls were enlisted in the critically endangered species list prepared by IUCN. The species is scattered through an area of square kilometres in the Dachigam National Park. The population of these deers was once approximately 5, in number.

Problems such as overgrazing of domestic livestock in the habitat of Hanguls and criminal activities like poaching, illicit trading lead to the decline in the population of Hangul. Then, their population dwindled to as low as by the end of The aim of the project was to create enclosures for artificial breeding of the species.

After the implementation of the project, the numbers rose to by But over a course of time, the project however failed due to several factors. Author: Saurab Babu Usually found sitting with a good book, nibbling on a piece of dark chocolate. Prev Extreme adaptations: Organisms can do some crazy things in order to survive! Next Wildlife Sanctuary vs National Park.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Search for: Search. Follow Following. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. An Advisory Committee constituted under the Act advises the Centre on these approvals. The Act deals with the four categories of the forests, namely reserved forests, village forests, protected forests and private forests.

Reserved forest A state may declare forestlands or waste lands as reserved forest and may sell the produce from these forests. Any unauthorized felling of trees quarrying, grazing and hunting in reserved forests is punishable with a fine or imprisonment, or both Village forests Reserved forests assigned to a village community are called village forests.

Protected forests The state governments are empowered to designate protected forests and may prohibit the felling of trees, quarrying and the removal of forest produce from these forests. The preservation of protected forests is enforced through rules, licenses and criminal prosecutions. The legislation aims at regulating access to biological resources so as to ensure equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use.

The Biological Diversity Bill was introduced in the Parliament in and was passed in This bill seeks to check biopiracy, protect biological diversity and local growers through a three-tier structure of central and state boards and local committees. The NBA will enjoy the power of a civil court.

BMCs promote conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biodiversity. All foreign nationals or organizations require prior approval of NBA for obtaining biological resources and associated knowledge for any use.

Collaborative research projects and exchange of knowledge and resources are exempted provided they are drawn as per the policy guidelines of the Central Government. While granting approvals, NBA will impose terms and conditions to secure equitable sharing of benefits. Before applying for any form of IPRs Intellectual Property Rights in or outside India for an invention based on research on a biological resource obtained from India, prior approval of NBA will be required.

The monetary benefits, fees, royalties as a result of approvals by NBA will be deposited in National Biodiversity Fund. NBF will be used for conservation and development of areas from where resource has been accessed, in consultation with the local self-government concerned.

There is provision for notifying National Heritage Sites important from standpoint of biodiversity by State Governments in consultation with local self-government. There also exists provision for notifying items, and areas for exemption provided such exclusion does not violate other provisions. This is to exempt normally traded commodities so as not to adversely affect trade.

NBA checks the biopiracy and protects the indigenous and traditional genetic resources. NBA directly monitors and supervises the scientific research on genetic modification of crop plants.

Forest Rights Act, provides for the restitution of deprived forest rights across India. The Act is providing scope of integrating conservation and livelihood rights of the people.

FRA is tool To empower and strengthen the local self-governance To address the livelihood security of the people To address the issues of Conservation and management of the Natural Resources and conservation governance of India.

For the first time Forest Rights Act recognizes and secures Community Rights in addition to their individual rights Right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource which the communities have been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use.

The Act provides for recognition of forest rights of other traditional forest dwellers provided they have for at least three generations prior to The provisions of the Biological Diversity Act are in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions in any other law relating to forests or wildlife.

National Wildlife Action Plan replaces the earlier Plan adopted in and was introduced in response to the need for a change in priorities given the increased commercial use of natural resources, continued growth of human and livestock populations, and changes in consumption patterns. The Plan most closely represents an actual policy on protection of wildlife.

It focuses on strengthening and enhancing the protected area network, on the conservation of Endangered wildlife and their habitats, on controlling trade in wildlife products and on research, education, and training. These new categories of protected areas are likely to bring in corridor areas under protection.

The Plan contains various recommendations to address the needs of local communities living outside protected areas and outlines the need for voluntary relocation and rehabilitation of villages within protected areas.

The Plan recognizes the need to reduce human-wildlife conflict and emphasizes the establishment of effective compensation mechanisms. It includes the restoration of degraded habitats outside protected areas as a key objective. It marked a significant departure from earlier forest policies, which gave primacy to meeting government interests and industrial requirements for forest products at the expense of local subsistence requirements.

It also includes meeting the natural resource requirements of rural communities as a major objective. The NFP legitimizes the customary rights and concessions of communities living in and around forests, stating that the domestic requirements of the rural poor should take precedence over industrial and commercial demands for forest products.

As can be seen from this article, India has a strong set of laws, Acts and policies for the protection of forests and wildlife. It is for citizens to study these carefully and apply them appropriately while conducting conservation advocacy campaigns. PDFs of the respective Acts and Policies can be downloaded here. You must be logged in to post a comment. Search Conservation India.