National Board for Wildlife (NBWL)

National Board for Wildlife (NBWL)

Subject: Environment

Section: Acts and Policies

Context: The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the clearance granted by the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) for doubling the railway line from Castle rock in Karnataka to Kulem in Goa.

Concept:

• The Standing Committee of the NBWL had cleared three projects — the doubling of the railway track, the four-laning of the NH 4A from Anmod near the Goa-Karnataka border to Mollem and laying of a 400 kv transmission line from Sangod in Goa to the Karnataka border to help meet Goa’s peak electricity demand of 1192 MW by 2022.
• The SC-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) in its report said “it does not find any justification for the track as it “will only be marginally enhancing the capacity of the most inefficient section of the railway network and will destroy the fragile ecosystem of the Western Ghats, an internationally recognised Biodiversity hotspot and also one of the most important wildlife corridors of the country”.

National Board for Wildlife (NBWL):

• The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) is constituted by the Central Government under Section 5 A of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (WLPA).
• It replaced the Indian Board for Wildlife, which was formed in 1952.
• It is a 47-member committee, headed by the Prime Minister.
• The National Board may, at its discretion, constitute a Standing Committee which consist of the Vice-Chairperson (Union Minister in charge of Forests and Wildlife) the Member Secretary (Additional Director General of Forests (WL) & Director, Wildlife Preservation) and not more than ten members to be nominated by the Vice-Chairperson from amongst the members of the National Board.
• It also includes 3 parliament members (two from Lok Sabha and one from Rajya Sabha), 5 NGOs, 10 eminent conservationists, ecologists and environmentalists, government secretaries of various departments, Chief of army staff, Director General of forests, tourism etc.
• The board is advisory in nature and advises the GOI in conservation and development of wildlife and forests.
• As per the WLPA, every time a new government is formed, a new NBWL has to be constituted with the Prime Minister as the chairperson.
• The WLPA mandates that without the approval/recommendation of the NBWL, construction of tourist lodges, alteration of the boundaries of Protected Areas, destruction or diversion of wildlife habitat and de-notification of Tiger Reserves, cannot be done.

To know about and WPA Amendment 2021, refer https://optimizeias.com/wildlife-protection-amendment-act-2021-2/