Denotifying Pulicat Bird Sanctuary
- May 6, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Denotifying Pulicat Bird Sanctuary
Subject: Environment
Sec: Protected Areas
Context:
- The Pulicat Lake, located across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, faces a significant threat from industrial expansion.
Details:
- The Tamil Nadu government has initiated processes to denotify parts of the Pulicat bird sanctuary, which is a critical habitat for diverse aquatic and avian species.
- The sanctuary was notified in 1980 under Section 18 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, of 1972.
- Recent moves to settle local claims and the potential reduction of the eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary have alarmed environmentalists.
- The discharge from surrounding industries has already damaged the lake’s aquatic life, exacerbated by the introduction of invasive species like charru mussels, which further threaten local marine populations.
- The current re-notification under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, has nothing to do with the demarcation of the ESZ, which is to be done under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Pulicat lake:
- India’s second-largest brackish water lagoon.
- Located across Andhra Pradesh (96%) and Tamil Nadu (3%).
- The lagoon is one of three important wetlands that attracts northeast monsoon rain clouds during the October to December season.
- The lagoon comprises the following regions: Pulicat Lake (Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu), Marshy/Wetland Land Region (AP), Venadu Reserve Forest (AP), and Pernadu Reserve Forest (AP).
- The barrier island of Sriharikota separates the lagoon from the Bay of Bengal.
- Arani River and the Kalangi River feed the lagoon.
- The Buckingham Canal, a navigation channel, is part of the lagoon on its western side.
Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ):
- The National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) stipulated that state governments should declare land falling within 10 km of the boundaries of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries as eco-fragile zones or Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) under the Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986.
- While the 10-km rule is implemented as a general principle, the extent of its application can vary. Areas beyond 10 km can also be notified by the Union government as ESZs if they hold larger ecologically important “sensitive corridors”.
Activities in ESZs:
- Prohibited Activities: Commercial mining, sawmills, industries causing pollution (air, water, soil, noise etc), establishment of major hydroelectric projects (HEP), commercial use of wood.
- Regulated Activities: Felling of trees, the establishment of hotels and resorts, commercial use of natural water, erection of electrical cables, drastic change of agriculture system, e.g., adoption of heavy technology, pesticides etc, widening of roads.
- Permitted Activities: Ongoing agricultural or horticultural practices, rainwater harvesting, organic farming, use of renewable energy sources, and adoption of green technology for all activities.
Significance of ESZs:
- To minimise the impact of urbanisation and other developmental activities, the areas adjacent to protected areas have been declared as Eco-Sensitive Zones.
- ESZs help in in-situ conservation, which deals with the conservation of an endangered species in its natural habitat, for example, the conservation of the One-horned Rhino of Kaziranga National Park, Assam.
- ESZs minimise forest depletion and man-animal conflict.
- The protected areas are based on the core and buffer model of management, through which local area communities are also protected and benefitted.
- The purpose of declaring eco-sensitive zones around protected areas is to create some kind of a ‘Shock Absorber’ for the protected area.
- They also act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to areas involving lesser protection.
Source: TH