National Board for Wildlife in India: No Starter or Just Good For A Start?
National Board for Wildlife in India: No Starter or Just Good For A Start?
The Modi government has recently approved a National Board for Wildlife or NBWL. This has flouted norms according to experts quoted in a Times of India article because the Board's composition does not conform with the requirements of the Wildlife Protection Act. 3 members have currently been inducted on board including Raman Sukumar and H. S. Singh.
Singh is a retired forest officer who works in the GEER foundation ran by the Gujarat government. Ramam Sukumar is an elephant conservationist and expert from Bangalore. But the Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Act 2002 Section 5-A has indicated the Board has to have 5 persons representing NGOs to be nominated by the Centre and 10 individuals to be nominated by the Central government from eminent ecologists and conservation experts. With so many numbers missing, one wonders if the Board will actually accomplish what it is intended to.
Protecting forest cover in the country is critical. If the balance is disturbed and global warming process is hastened further, erratic rains will not be the only problem India will have to face. Several projects including mining in what are tiger habitats in central India and the proposed highway projects will now be approved by the NBWL. With so many important decisions on the anvil are 2 individual members enough to handle the workload? What about transparency and objectivity?
The tenure of the previous board lapsed in the month of September in 2013. With the board being a statutory body under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 this is not a matter to be taken lightly. The PM is currently the chairperson of the Board while the Union Environment minister is the vice chairperson. The environment minister currently Prakash Javadekar is the chairperson for the standing committee of the NBWL.
Equally important is the issue brought out regarding monitoring and evaluation in protected areas. This requires local action and local experts. Placing 2 knowledgeable persons at the helm is not enough. More are needed for a country as complex as India when it comes to ecological diversity. Members who provide independent views to the government can accomplish a lot for restoring the health of the environment in our country. A Business Standard report has also quoted a senior official as saying the board is to be formed with the minimum of quorum.
Moreover the NBWL now meets no more than once a year for 2 hours. A lot more time needs to be devoted to ecology if India is serious about its environmental commitments. India currently has 617 protected areas and this includes over 100 parks and more than 500 wildlife sanctuaries. With so much at stake the NBWL needs more people on board. Too many cooks may spoil the broth but many wildlife experts can actually get the job done. A diluted approach to the NBWL will just make the sixth extinction identified by scientists more rapid in India.
