Wild Life Preservation Act (1972) and Indian Forest Conservation Act (1980)
Wild Life Preservation Act (1972):- The Indian Parliament enacted the Wildlife (Protection) Act in 1972, which provides for the safeguard and protection of the wildlife (flora and fauna) in the country.
Salient Features:- This Act provides for the protection of a listed species of animals, birds, and plants, and also for the establishment of a network of ecologically-important protected areas in the country.
> The Act provides for the formation of wildlife advisory boards, wildlife wardens, specifies their powers and duties, etc.
> It helped India become a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
- CITES is a multilateral treaty with the objective of protecting endangered animals and plants.
- It is also known as the Washington Convention and was adopted as a result of a meeting of IUCN members.
> For the first time, a comprehensive list of the endangered wildlife of the country was prepared.
> The Act prohibited the hunting of endangered species.
> Scheduled animals are prohibited from being traded as per the Act’s provisions.
> The Act provides for licenses for the sale, transfer, and possession of some wildlife species.
> It provides for the establishment of wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, etc.
> Its provisions paved the way for the formation of the Central Zoo Authority. This is the central body responsible for the oversight of zoos in India. It was established in 1992.
> The Act created six schedules which gave varying degrees of protection to classes of flora and fauna.
- Schedule I and Schedule II (Part II) get absolute protection, and offences under these schedules attract the maximum penalties.
- The schedules also include species that may be hunted.
> The National Board for Wildlife was constituted as a statutory organization under the provisions of this Act.
- This is an advisory board that offers advice to the central government on issues of wildlife conservation in India.
- It is also the apex body to review and approve all matters related to wildlife, projects of national parks, sanctuaries, etc.
- The chief function of the Board is to promote the conservation and development of wildlife and forests.
- It is chaired by the Prime Minister.
> The Act also provided for the establishment of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
- It is a statutory body of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change with an overall supervisory and coordination part, performing capacities as given in the Act.
- Its mandate is to strengthen tiger conservation in India.
- It gives statutory authority to Project Tiger which was launched in 1973 and has put the endangered tiger on a guaranteed path of revival by protecting it from extinction.
Protected Areas under the Wildlife Protection Act:- There are five types of protected areas as provided under the Act. They are described below.
1. Sanctuaries:- Sanctuary is a place of refuge where injured, abandoned, and abused wildlife is allowed to live in peace in their natural environment without any human intervention.
> They are naturally-occurring areas where endangered species are protected from poaching, hunting, and predation.
> Here, animals are not bred for commercial exploitation.
> The species are protected from any sort of disturbance.
> Animals are not allowed to be captured or killed inside the sanctuaries.
> A wildlife sanctuary is declared by the State government by a Notification. Boundaries can be altered by a Resolution of the State Legislature.
> Human activities such as timber harvesting, collecting minor forest products, and private ownership rights are permitted as long as they do not interfere with the animals’ well-being. Limited human activity is permitted.
> They are open to the general public. But people are not allowed unescorted. There are restrictions as to who can enter and/or reside within the limits of the sanctuary. Only public servants (and his/her family), persons who own immovable property inside, etc. are allowed. People using the highways which pass through sanctuaries are also allowed inside.
> Boundaries of sanctuaries are not generally fixed and defined.
> Biologists and researchers are permitted inside so that they can study the area and its inhabitants.
> The Chief Wildlife Warden (who is the authority to control, manage and maintain all sanctuaries) may grant permission to persons for entry or residence in the sanctuary for the study of wildlife, scientific research, photography, the transaction of any lawful business with persons residing inside, and tourism.
> Sanctuaries can be upgraded to the status of a ‘National Park’.
> Examples:- Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary (Rann of Kutch, Gujarat); Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu (oldest bird sanctuary in India); Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka).
2. National Parks:- National Parks are the areas that are set by the government to conserve the natural environment.
> A national park has more restrictions as compared to a wildlife sanctuary.
> National parks can be declared by the State government by Notification. No alteration of the boundaries of a national park shall be made except on a resolution passed by the State Legislature.
> The main objective of a national park is to protect the natural environment of the area and biodiversity conservation.
> The landscape, fauna, and flora are present in their natural state in national parks.
> Their boundaries are fixed and defined.
> Here, no human activity is allowed.
> Grazing of livestock and private tenurial rights are not permitted here.
> Species mentioned in the Schedules of the Wildlife Act are not allowed to be hunted or captured.
> No person shall destroy, remove, or exploit any wildlife from a National Park or destroy or damage the habitat of any wild animal or deprive any wild animal of its habitat within a national park.
> They cannot be downgraded to the status of a ‘sanctuary’.
> Examples:- Bandipur National Park in Karnataka; Hemis National Park in Jammu & Kashmir; Kaziranga National Park in Assam. See more on List of National Parks in India.
3. Conservation Reserves:- The State government may declare an area (particularly those adjacent to sanctuaries or parks) as conservation reserves after consulting with local communities.
4. Community Reserves:- The State government may declare any private or community land as a community reserve after consultation with the local community or an individual who has volunteered to conserve the wildlife.
5. Tiger Reserves:- These areas are reserved for the protection and conservation of tigers in India. They are declared on the recommendations of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Indian Forest Conservation Act. (1980):-
> The Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 (FCA, 1980) is an act by the Parliament of India which ensures conservation of forest and its resources.
> It was enacted by the Parliament of India in order to control the ongoing deforestation of the forests of India. It came into force on October 25, 1980 containing five sections.
> Amid news reports mentioning future amendments to the FCA 1980 by the Environment Ministry, the act and its provisions become important from the current affairs perspective.
Objectives:- The aim of the Forest is to preserve the forest ecosystem of India by fulfilling the following objectives:
i. Protect the forest along with its flora, fauna and other diverse ecological components while preserving the integrity and territory of the forests.
ii. Arrest the loss of forest biodiversity
iii. Prevent forest lands being converted into agricultural, grazing or for any other commercial purposes and intentions.
Salient Features:- The Forest Conservation Act of 1980 come with the following features:
i. The Act restricts the state government and other authorities to take decisions first without permission from the central government.
ii. The Forest Conservation Act gives complete authority to the Central government to carry out the objectives of the act.
iii. The Act levies penalties in case of violations of the provisions of FCA.
iv. The Forest Conservation Act will have an advisory committee which will help the Central government with regard to forest conservation.
Important Sections:-
Section 1:- Title and scope
The law applies to the whole of India except for Jammu and Kashmir. However, when Article 370 was removed, it meant all laws at the central level became applicable. But only 37 laws apply to Jammu and Kashmir at the moment and the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 is not one of them
Section 2:- Restriction of forests being used for non-forest purposes.
The section lists restrictions where state authorities cannot make laws regarding forest without the permissions of the Central Government. The emphasis is on ‘non forest purposes’ which means that clearing forest land for the planting of:
i. Tea
ii. Coffee
iii. Spices
iv. Rubber
v. Palms
vi. Oil-bearing
vii. Medicinal plants
Section 3:- Advisory committee
As per Section 3 of this Act, the Central government has the power to constitute an advisory committee to advice on matters related to advising the central government on the preservation of forests.
Amendments:- In order to balance economic and ecological concerns regarding the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 several amendments were proposed by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in March 2021. Some amendments were as follows:
i.The proposed new ‘section 1A’ created provision which exempts survey and exploration for underground oil and natural gas. In other words, such activities will no longer be classified as a ‘non-forest activity’ and will not require permission from the government,
However, there will be certain conditions laid by the Central Government to carry out such activities, one of which being, survey and drilling activities will not be carried out within the proximity of wildlife sanctuaries.
ii. Land acquired for railway networks will not be applicable to FCA and be exempt. Of course, certain guidelines will be laid down by the Central government, which will include planting trees to compensate for the loss of forest lands.
iii. Section 2 of the FCA requires government approval for leasing forest lands not owned by the central government for any commercial purposes to private entities.
This clause has been deleted in the proposed amendment. This will enable state governments to lease forest lands without the Central government’s approval.
iv. A new explanation to Section 2 proposes to exempt plantation of native species of palm and oil-bearing trees from the definition of “non-forest purpose”.
The government will only impose conditions for compensatory afforestation and payment of other levies and compensations.
v. The proposed amendments to FCA add to the list of non-forestry purposes activities such as building checkpoints, fence boundary, and communication infrastructure.
It may also add ecotourism facilities approved under the Forest Working Plan or Working Scheme approved by the central government.