PROTECTED AREA NETWORK

The adoption of a National Policy for Wildlife Conservation in 1970 and the enactment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act in 1972 led to a significant growth in the protected areas - 669 Protected Areas including 106 National Parks, 553Wildlife Sanctuaries, 100Conservation Reserves and 219 Community Reserves

Difference between National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuary

• National Parks enjoy a greater degree of protection than sanctuaries.
• Certain activities which are regulated in sanctuaries, such as grazing of livestock, are prohibited in National Parks.
• Wildlife sanctuary can be created for a particular species (e.g. grizzled giant squirrel in Srivalliputhur) whereas the national park is not primarily focused on a particular species.
• Central government can declare an area as a sanctuary /National park by notification.
• In cases where territorial water is included, the limits shall be determined in consultation with the Chief Naval Hydrographer of the Central Government, after taking adequate measures to protect the occupational interest of the local fishermen
• No alteration of boundaries of a sanctuary /National park shall be made except on the recommendation of the National Board for Wildlife.

Settlements of Rights

• The State Government shall make alternative arrangements required for making available fuel fodder and other forest produce to the persons affected, in terms of their rights as per the government records.
• The state Government appoints an officer as a “Collector “under the Act to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of rights of any person in or over the land comprised within the sanctuary /National Park which is to be notified.

Entry into the Protected Area following can enter and reside in the sanctuary /National park by the conditions of a permit granted.

• A public servant on duty
• A person admitted who has been permitted by the Chief Life Warden or the authorized officer to reside within the limits of the sanctuary /National park
• A person who has any right over immovable property within the limits of the sanctuary /national park
• A person passing through the sanctuary /National Park along a public highway.

Grant of Permit for entry

The Chief Wild Life Warden may, on application grant to any person a permit to enter or reside in a sanctuary /National park for all or any of the following purposes-

• Investigation or study of wildlife and purposes ancillary or incidental thereto
• Photography
• Scientific research
• Tourism
• Transaction of lawful business with any person residing in the sanctuary.

1. Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves

These are the outcomes of Amendments to the Life Protection Act in 2003.  It provides for a flexible system wherein wildlife conservation is achieved without compromising the community's needs.

• The declaration of such an area is aimed at improving 'the socio-economic conditions of the living in such areas as well as conserving The Reserve is managed through a Reserve Management Committee
•  No change in the land use pattern shall be made within the Community Reserve, except by a resolution passed by the Management Committee and approval of same by the State Government

2. Coastal Protected Areas

It aims to protect and conserve the natural marine ecosystems in their pristine condition. Marine Protected Area (MPA), is "any area of intertidal or sub-tidal terrain, together with its overlaying water and Associated flora, fauna, historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment" - IUCN.

The MPAs in the marine environment in India are primarily classified into the following three categories:

• Category-I: This covers National Parks and Sanctuaries and has entire areas in intertidal/sub-tidal or mangroves, coral reefs, creeks, sea grass beds, algal beds, estuaries, and lagoons.
• Category II: This includes Islands, which have major parts in the marine ecosystem and some parts in the terrestrial ecosystem.
• Category-IIIA: This includes sandy beaches beyond the intertidal line but occasionally interacting with the seawater.
• Category-III B: This includes ever-green or semi-evergreen forests of Islands

MPA in India comprises 33 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, there are a total of 31 MPAs in India. MPA cover less than 4.01% of the total area of all protected areas of India.

Sacred groves comprise patches of forests or natural vegetation - from a few trees to forests of several acres - that are usually dedicated to local folk deities. In India, sacred groves are found all over the country and abundantly along the Western Ghats in the states of Kerala and Karnataka.

Classification of Sacred Groves

Ecological Significance 

• They are often the last refuge of endemic species in the geographical region
• The vegetative cover also helps in recharging the aquifers
• The vegetation cover of the sacred groves improves the soil stability of the area and also prevents soil erosion.

Threats to Sacred Groves

• Disappearances of the traditional belief systems, which were fundamental to the concept of sacred groves
• They have been destroyed due to rapid urbanization and developmental intervention
• Many groves are suffering due to” Sanskritisation “or transformation of the primitive forms of nature worship into formal temple worship
• Invasion by exotic weeds.
• Pressures due to increasing livestock and fuel wood collection.

• The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme is an Intergovernmental Scientific Programme aiming to set a scientific basis for the improvement of the relationships between people and their environment globally.
• Launched in the early 1970s, it proposes an interdisciplinary research agenda and capacity building that targets the ecological, social and economic dimensions of biodiversity loss and the reduction of this loss.
• MAB combines natural and social sciences, economics and education to improve human livelihoods and safeguard natural ecosystems, thus promoting innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable.
• For the implementation of its interdisciplinary work on the ground, MAB relies on the World Network of Biosphere Reserve and thematic networks and partnerships for knowledge sharing, research and monitoring, education and training and participatory decision-making.

• The International Coordinating Council (ICC) of UNESCO, in November 1971, introduced the designation Biosphere Reserve' for natural areas. The concept of a Biosphere Reserve was redefined by a Task Force of UNESCO’s MAB Programme in 1974 and the BR network was formally launched in 1976.
• Biosphere Reserve (BR) is an international designation by UNESCO for representative parts of natural and cultural landscapes extending over large areas of terrestrial or coastal/marine ecosystems or a combination thereof.
•  BRs are special environments for, both people and nature and are living examples of how human beings and nature can co-exist while respecting each other’s needs
• Biosphere reserves are sites established by countries and recognized under. UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme.

• Conservation: To encourage the traditional resource use system and To monitor the natural and human-caused changes on spatial and temporal scales
• Development: To promote, at the local level, economic development which is culturally, socially and ecologically sustainable and To develop the strategies leading to the improvement and management of natural resources.
• Logistic Support: To provide support for research, monitoring, education and information exchange related to local, national and global issues of conservation and development and Sharing of knowledge generated by research through site-specific training and education

Biosphere Reserves: an Indian approach

Objectives

• To conserve the diversity integrity of plants and animals within natural ecosystems;
• To safeguard the genetic diversity of species on which their continuing evolution depend
• To provide areas for multi-faceted research and monitoring;
• To provide facilities for education and training;
• To ensure sustainable use of natural resources through the most appropriate technology for the improvement of the economic well-being of the local people.

Primary Criteria

• A site that must contain an effectively protected and minimally disturbed core area of value of nature conservation and should include additional land and water suitable for research and demonstration of sustainable methods of research and management.
• The core area should be typical of a biogeographically unit and large enough to sustain viable populations representing all tropic levels in the ecosystem.

Secondary Criteria

• Areas having rare and endangered species
• Areas having a diversity of soil and micro-climatic conditions and indigenous varieties of biota
• Areas potential for preservation of traditional tribal or rural modes of living for harmonious use of the environment.

Biosphere Reserves are demarcated into three interrelated zones

The Core

• The Core zone should be kept undisturbed
• It secures legal protection and management and research activities that do not affect natural processes and wildlife are allowed.
• It is to be kept free from all human pressures external to the system.

The Buffer Zone

• It adjoins or surrounds the core zone
• These uses and activities include restoration, demonstration sites for enhancing value addition to the resources, limited recreation, tourism, fishing and grazing, which are permitted to reduce their effect on the core zone. Research and educational activities are to be encouraged

Transition Zone

• It is the outermost part
• This includes settlements, croplands, managed forests and areas for intensive recreation and other economic uses characteristic of the region

Biosphere Reserves Differ From Protected Areas due to their Emphasis on

• Conservation of overall biodiversity and landscape, rather than some specific flagship species, to allow natural and evolutionary processes to continue without any hindrance
• Different components of BRs like landscapes, habitats, and species and landraces.
• Developmental activities and resolution /mitigation of conflicts between development and conservation
• Sustainable environment-friendly development and sustained coordination amongst different development organizations and agencies.
• Research and Monitoring to understand the structure and functioning of ecological systems and their mode of reaction when exposed to human intervention.

The biodiversity hot spot concept was put forth by Norman Myers in 1988. To qualify as a hot spot, a region must meet two strict criteria:

1. Species endemism must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5% of the World’s total) as endemics, and
2. b) Degree of threat has to have lost at least 70% of its original habitat.

Five key factors have been taken into consideration for biodiversity hot spots

Eight hottest hot spots in terms of five factors

1. Madagascar
2. Philippines
3. Sundaland
4. Brazil‘s Atlantic Forest
5. Caribbean
6. Indo -Burma

Indian Biodiversity Hot Spots

1. The Himalayas
2. Indo- Burma and
3. The Western Ghats & Sri Lanka
4. Sunderland

Eastern Himalayas Hot Spot:

• The region encompasses Bhutan, northeastern India, and southern, central, and eastern Nepal.
• The region is geologically young and shows high altitudinal variation.
• It has a diversity of ecosystems that range from alluvial grasslands and subtropical broad-leaf forests along the foothills to temperate broad-leaf forests in the mid hills, mixed conifer and conifer forests in the higher hills and alpine meadows above the tree line.

Western Ghats and Sri Lanka

• Western Ghats, also known as the "Sahyadri Hills" encompasses the mountain forests in the Southwestern parts of India and the highlands of southwestern Sri Lanka.
• It includes scrub forests in the low-lying rain shadow areas and the plains, deciduous and tropical rainforests up to about 1500 meters and a unique mosaic of montane forests and rolling grasslands above 1500 meters.
• In Sri Lanka, diversity includes dry evergreen forests dipterocarpus-dominated rainforests to tropical montane cloud forests.

• The sites are designated as having outstanding universal value under the Convention concerning the Protection of the World. Cultural and Natural "Heritage.
• World Heritage sites means “sites any of various areas or objects inscribed on the United Nations Educational, scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage list.
• This convention which was adopted by UNESCO in 1972 and enforced in 1975 provides a framework for international cooperation in preserving and protecting cultural treasures and natural areas throughout the world.
•  Until the end of 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005 this was modified so that there is only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of "outstanding universal value" and meet at least one of the ten criteria.
•  The United Nations proclaimed May 22 as The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.

Ten criteria for World Heritage sites

1. To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
2. To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over some time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
3. To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
4. To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
5. To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land use, or sea use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;
6. To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
7. To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
8. To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
9. To be outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
10. To contain the most significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.