294 eco-critical areas to be listed as PAs

Nagpur: A Supreme Court committee of well-known experts have preliminary identified a list of 294 ecologically critical areas (ECAs) in various states and has recommended them to be declared as protected areas (PAs) under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
The seven-member committee was set up by the Supreme Court pursuant to the directions on March 25, 2021, in SLP (25047 of 2018).
The panel, which has submitted its report to the apex court, was headed by well-known wildlife expert MK Ranjitsinh (chairman), while Jigmet Takpa, joint secretary, MoEFCC, was member-secretary. AS Rawat, DG, ICFR, Sandeep Tambe, a professor with IIFM, GS Rawat, ex-director, WII, Nilanjan Ghosh, director, ORF, Kolkata, and Pradip Krishen, environmentalist, were members of the committee.
TOI on April 24, has already reported how the SC panel talks tough on saving trees on non-forest land. Taking cognizance of looming threats and recognizing the need for safeguarding specific geographical and eco-sensitive areas (ESAs), the SC directed this committee to suggest special treatment in order to preserve them for posterity, as national treasures.
“Under prevailing circumstances, the only practical way to save these unique, and precious heritage sites is to accord those identified now and subsequently a status similar to our extant PAs, whereby stringent regulations would apply to them if their diversion or destruction is required for developmental projects,” says the committee.
The committee categorized ECAs (areas outside PAs) as biologically significant areas (BSAs), where endemic species and unique ecosystems exist; heritage sites (HS) that exhibit unique geological and historical features; bio-corridors, which are migratory paths of animals, and ESZs and buffer zones.
The committee, after consultation with states, identified a preliminary list of 294 ECAs in the country, along with the criteria used to list them and their conservation significance. These ECAs are of high conservation significance and were initially proposed as PAs by experts, and authorities but have not been notified by the states to date. The list of 294 ECAs is not exhaustive, and more areas can be added, the panel says.
Today, the diversion of forest land is applied for and granted as a routine matter to facilitate the ease of ‘doing business’. These diversions are often applied piecemeal to obtain quick and easy approval, and to evade the scrutiny that a larger project might attract and end up creating ever-increasing fragmentation of forests. The way in which afforestation is practiced in India often does not amount to or contribute to ‘ecological restoration’, says the committee report.
The committee adopted a scientific and broad-based approach to develop the report. The MoEFCC was requested to grant time for the committee to make its presentation and get feedback, but this consultation could not materialize. Thereafter, a request was made to the MoEFCC to give comments on a detailed executive summary of the report, but these too were not forthcoming.
The report – ‘Compensatory conservation in India: An analysis of the science, policy and practice’, recommends, “Whenever a part of a notified PA or identified bio-corridor is sought to be diverted or de-notified, it shall only occur after an area at least twice the size of the area to be diverted or de-notified is added to the very same PA area.”
Full report on www.toi.in