Buffer Zone Transition to Eco Sensitive Zone

 Eco-Sensitive Zone or Ecologically Fragile Areas - EFAs

This new concept is being developed, implemented, and regulated by MOEF in India.  I believe the eco-development committee with public participation will play a vital role in the management of our ring or the buffer zone of National Parks, tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries ((WLS) all notified as such but deemed to be considered as Protected Areas.   

Practically renaming the buffer zone as an eco-sensitive zone has very few consequences for the resident public mostly tribal farmers. But this whole exercise would not have been considered without some changes being brought about.  

Farming as usual by the locals will continue outside the limits of reserve forests. The certain industry will be banned as they are already banned but the notification would mean more will fall under the purview.  

The declaration is under the purview of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 in which sub-section 3 (2) (v) empowers the Central Government to manage or notify certain commercial activities in such zones as banned or permissible or to be regulated.  The effort is to provide greater protection and a smooth transition to outer areas which do not face such restrictions.  

Biodiversity, biotic and abiotic pressures, environmentally friendly land use limits, pollutants, and other factors have to be considered whence framing guidelines in these areas which are specific to each Protected Area.  The criteria would be nearly the same as that in declaring a No Development Zone by the Government of India.

The guidelines, restrictions, etc may be reviewed by the Central Government whenever it decides. The ESZ could be notified keeping ecological sensitivity into account based on species rarity,  ecosystem-based, and also based Geo Morphological Features.  

This strategy was formulated in a 2002 meeting of the National Board for Wildlife  India. The area designated was ten kilometers in the periphery of the core or in the case of tiger reserves the critical tiger habitat.            

Albeit this concept stands as highly important for conservation and the environment in India there are many problems faced by the PAs in different states which are creating hesitancy. The outer rings around many PAs are ill-defined due to the prevalence of a high population density, heavy industries, and even major urban settlements. All this will certainly create a state of conflict and make implementation difficult. In around such PAs the die has already been cast. Uprooting established activities would hamper development as many State bodies say.  

We are certainly at crossroads either we give two hoots to wildlife conservation and protection or face upheaval in order to rectify all anomalies made in the past whence the concept of proper land use pattern was not a consideration.  

Besides sustaining the sink populations due to active breeding since conservation initiatives were implemented these are vital wildlife corridors for migrant species in India. Migration is important for cross-breeding and thus the transfer of genes from one distant area to another. If this is not allowed to happen inbreeding will lead to near extinction possibly hampering all conservation initiatives in the country. Though the need for creating viable corridors is without any doubt, the implementation of political dispensations is difficult as a large number of human settlement translocations would be required. 

This is being penned for amateur enthusiasts interested in conservation. In the past few centuries, humans have encroached upon sensitive ecosystems and destroyed them. Those remaining or are partially viable are the subject of this policy. Many species find coexistence in close vicinity with humans impossible and furthered by indiscriminate land use mostly for agriculture the sensitive species lose ground quickly. This tragedy has occurred in our country extensively.  Swamp deer is a tangent example of this duress imposed by humans in India.

For greater clarity read the article of Wikipedia EFAs          

Further Read: Our Urban Footprints         

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Uday Works as Freelance Naturalist and Blogs on conservation, tigers, environmental issues.

He also provides SEO and Website Contents in English. He teaches Digital Marketing in Jabalpur in Summers.

He can be contacted at:

Mail: pateluday90@hotmail.com
 Mob: 09755089323

             

Conservation: It's Pay Back Time

Our  Earth: A Saga of Exploitation

Not only extensive farming, poaching, wood logging, and hunting have denuded our wilds we conveniently seek to forgive our sins whence it comes to breakneck industrial revolution and urbanization. Like agriculture, large industries and industrial estates scrap off nature from Earth in long strips along with associated urbanization in our towns and cities. 

In the past few centuries, we have hastened the demise of many invaluable ecosystems to alternate them with nonviable human constructs and the process goes on. The developed countries have been quick to extensively exploit natural resources and strip off ecosystems forests, grasslands, and rivers to name a few in order to develop in material terms without digging deep into ramifications. Most countries are stripped of natural lands and they have virtually exterminated their wilderness. But there is no looking back,  and if there is at places it is weak and without commitment. As a consequence, we are facing climate change and species extinction due to the dismembering of remaining ecosystems, pollution, human intrusions, and alternating natural systems to suit our exigencies.             

Earth is supposed to be shared among trillions of life forms thus maintaining an equilibrium so that life sustenance mechanism remains inviolate. Large chunks of ecosystems have been decimated for crops without any circumspection, and industrialization, and urbanization is taking place with haste. We are turning settlements into cement jungles and urban ghettos. 

All we look at is modern infrastructure and the gleaming societies and lifestyles they generate forgetting the dead that lies beneath. The industrial revolution has been a major disaster and caused wars innumerable, social disparities as well as grave harm to the environment. Global warming is an evident phenomenon among even those who are not erudite or aware, and the suffering is taking a toll in terms of health physical and mental.   

It is difficult to hinder this blitzkrieg because dispensations do not bow down and at the most pay lip service to conservation. Maintaining an equilibrium would require some committed steps for preservation even if the infrastructure buildup is halted. We simply cannot regenerate the complex living systems that nature does. This is rabid development is the trend everywhere, and most vicious in overpopulated countries trying to emerge from ongoing poverty without understanding the route they are adopting. As urban ghettos increase poverty will as well for we see life not as sustainable but gauge impoverished societies keeping the yardstick of measure highlighting disparity with those well developed (sic). There is no limit to the demands of humanity, and we will perish if we fulfill them at the cost of nature. Are we going to need artificial glass bubbles with oxygen supplies to survive on Earth in the future?       

To keep industries alive and the economy booming we continue to exploit natural resources which are already dwindling. In economic haste, we are not using the resources in a judicious manner, and are not at all looking for renewable on a war footing. Development is the mantra of disaster and the infrastructure built up in hinterlands in countries like India is a scourge with no mitigation seemingly possible. Rather than judging the economy by scale, we must peep into the environmental disaster we are leaving in the wake. We need to define our basic needs and stick to them.         

Poverty alleviation should not come about through the industrial revolution, it should come by rational use of renewable energy and a paradigm shift in our lifestyles. Too much energy consumption or unprecedented use of natural resources has wreaked havoc on our planet and we need to stem the rot. The major stress factor is not poverty but our excessive consumption of fossil fuels and other natural resources. Controlling the population is wise but there is no such urgency among various countries and demographics. Population control should be imperative, especially in Asia and Africa.         

Time to Pay Back 

We need reforestation, conservation of wildlife, habitat repair, and preservation of the ecosystem that supports them, and to stop the destruction of tropical forests going on on large scale.  We will have to redefine our lifestyle and consumption pattern and wean out what is unsustainable with vigor and commitment.     

We will have to have a methodology in place as far as industrialization and infrastructure build-up is taking place. We will have to draw out sustainable plans and practices which mitigate damage to natural lands.  Yes a lot more has to be done in order to preserve our  Earth and the efforts should come about not only from institutions but we the public as well.  

We can do it, we are successfully saving the tiger and the lion and many other endangered species and India has also preserved good enough ecosystems. There is hope! 

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Uday Works as Freelance Naturalist and Blogs on conservation, tigers, environmental issues.

He also provides SEO and Website Contents in English.

He can be contacted at:

Mail: pateluday90@hotmail.com

 Mob: 09755089323

    

Diamond Mining: Lure of the Lucre & Tigers

Eventually, after much hullabaloo, the diamond project in the Bunder Region of Madhya Pradesh was shelved by Rio Tinto. Citing financial reasons the concern handed over the project to the Government of Madhya Pradesh along with all the assets.   

Obviously, the Bunder Region was not good enough take for the company despite which they got the approval to go ahead. The project was mired in controversy right from its inception as the land contained a biodiversity-rich profile. Situated near Panna Tiger Reserve and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, the area is a link between the local ecosystems and constitutes a vital tiger corridor. The diverse floral habitats are home to leopards, sloth bears, chinkara, and other mammals, birds, and reptiles. 

Tiger experts unanimously agree upon the status as it falls under the tiger landscape. Under the stalled project more than five lakh trees were to be felled spelling an environmental disaster. Under severe opposition and administrative hiccups, the project viability was deemed poor. Eventually wiser council prevailed.    

The project envisaged the reaping of the rich harvest of roughs up to the extent of 27.00 million carats of rough. The open cast mining was discouraged and the company was advised to employ alternative means to dig for diamonds.  

But the disaster still seems to be in waiting since other investors are being sought by the concerned bodies. It seems the major discouragement is the environmental bye-laws in India. Nevertheless, projects which are ecological disasters should in the first place never be envisaged. By the time the mining would reach the end cycle we would have lost a substantial forest region forever.    

Central Indian States MP and Chhattisgarh are rich in mineral wealth including diamonds. Encouragement is being accorded to major global players to explore extensively and mine the invaluable ores.   

But the lure of the lucre would fetch in the loosening of laws in order to enable global players to mine with ease. India has an impressive diamond polishing industry but most of the roughs are obtained from Belgium. Finding substantial deposits for large projects is enticing for Governments aiming to become of the major diamond-producing regions in the World.       

Hence the sword of Damocles hangs over our valuable resources some of which are situated in the finest wildlife habitats.