States asked to expedite proposal for declaration of ESZ

The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has taken "serious" note of non-submission of proposals for declaring eco-sensitive zones (ESZs) around national parks by states, and directed them to do so "expeditiously".
The 36th meeting of the standing committee, held yesterday, also decided that the boundary of Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in Maharashtra be "rationalised" so that it includes about 366 sq kms of core area for focussed conservation management of the species.
"It was emphasised during the meeting that state governments should take very effort for expeditious submission of proposals for declaration of ESZ around national parks and sanctuaries and that non-submission of proposals was being viewed very seriously by the committee," an official source said.

The meeting of NBWL, which falls under the Environment Ministry, considered a total of 53 proposals in which 42 were fresh proposals. It recommended 26 proposals while 27 were deferred.
The standing committee noted that wildlife conservation cannot be successful without the support of people and suggested that people should be taken along for making the Great Indian Bustard conservation programme a successful endeavour in Maharashtra.
It was also added that areas suitable for conservation breeding of Bustard species could be added to the 'Protected Area Network of the State'.
The source said that in the matter of rationalisation of boundary of the sanctuary in Maharashtra, a team of standing committee members and Environment Ministry had also undertaken site inspection and submitted their report. The team had recommended for the rationalisation of boundaries of the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary.