Wildlife protection and its Protection

under Indian legislation

 Environment Law Presentation

Submit By – Tamanna
Registration No- 11805989
Section- Law1804
Topic – Wildlife Protection Act
Subject- Environment Law-451
Submit To – Ms. Renuka Ma'am
Submission Date-25/03/21
 Under Article 51 (G) of Indian Constitution

"It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to

protect and improve the natural environment
including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to
have compassion for living creatures."
 LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR WILDLIFE
CONSERVATION IN INDIA
Many people are under the impression that India does not have strong wildlife
conservation laws. On the contrary, we have some of the most stringent legislations
to protect wildlife and habitats.
• The Government of India has introduced various types of legislation in response
to the growing destruction of wildlife and forests.
These are:
› The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (Last amended in 2006).
› National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016).
› The Environment (Protection) Act (1986).
› The Biological Diversity Act (2002).
› The Indian Fisheries Act (1897).
› The Indian Forest Act (1927).
› The Forest Conservation Act (1980).
 The Wildlife Protection Act

• The Government of India enacted Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 with

the objective to effectively protect the wild life of this country and to
control stealing, smuggling and illegal trade in wildlife and its products.
• The Act was amended in January 2003 and punishment and penalty for
offences under the Act have been made more stringent. It has been
proposed to further amend the law by introducing more rigid measures
to strengthen the Act.
• The objective is to provide protection to the listed endangered flora and
fauna and ecologically important protected areas.
• It is an important statute that provides a powerful legal framework for:
❖ › Prohibition of hunting
❖ › Protection and management of wildlife habitats
❖ › Establishment of protected areas
❖ › Regulation and control of trade in parts and products derived from
wildlife
❖ › Management of zoos.
 NATIONAL WILDLIFE ACTION PLAN (2002-2016)

• connecting protected areas, and “community reserves”, which will allow

greater participation of local communities in protected area management
through traditional or cultural cones Replaces the earlier plan adopted in
1983 and was introduced in response to the need for a change in priorities
given the increased commercial use of natural resources, continued growth
of human and livestock populations, and changes in consumption patterns.

• The Plan most closely represents an actual policy on protection of wildlife.

It focuses on strengthening and enhancing the protected area network, on
the conservation of Endangered wildlife and their habitats, on controlling
trade in wildlife products and on research, education, and training.
• The Plan endorses two new protected area categories: “conservation reserves,”
referring to corridors connecting protective areas and “community reserves” which
will allow greater participation of local communities in protected area management
through traditional or cultural conservation practices.

• The Plan contains various recommendations to address the needs of local

communities living outside protected areas and outlines the need for voluntary
relocation and rehabilitation of villages within protected areas.

• The Plan recognizes the need to reduce human-wildlife conflict and emphasizes
the establishment of effective compensation mechanisms. It includes the restoration
of degraded habitats outside protected areas as a key objective.
THE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT (1986)
• It is an important legislation that provides for coordination of activities
of the various regulatory agencies, creation of authorities with adequate
powers for environmental protection, regulation of the discharge of
environmental pollutants, handling of hazardous substances, etc.
• The Act provided an opportunity to extend legal protection to non-
forest habitats (‘Ecologically Sensitive Areas’) such as grasslands,
wetlands and coastal zones.
THE BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY ACT (2002)
• India is a party to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
• The provisions of the Biological Diversity Act are in addition to and not in
derogation of the provisions in any other law relating to forests or wildlife.
The Indian Forest Act 1927
 THE INDIAN FOREST ACT (1927)
• The main objective of the Indian Forest Act (1927) is to secure exclusive state control
over forests to meet the demand for timber. Most of these untitled lands had
traditionally belonged to the forest dwelling communities. The Act defined state
ownership, regulated its use and appropriated the power to substitute or extinguish
customary rights.
The Act facilitates three categories of forests, namely :
› Reserved forests
› Village forests
› Protected forests Reserved forests are the most protected within these categories. No
rights can be acquired in reserved forests except by succession or under a grant or
contract with the government. Felling trees, grazing cattle, removing forest products,
quarrying, fishing, and hunting are punishable with a fine or imprisonment.
 National Environmental Policy (NEP) 2006

✓ India’s National Environmental Policy (NEP) was adopted in 2006 and was built upon on
the existing policies like

✓ National Forest Policy, 1988;

✓ National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development,

1992;

✓ and the Policy Statement on Abatement of Pollution,1992;

✓ National Agriculture Policy, 2000;

✓ National Population Policy, 2000;

✓ National Water Policy, 2002 etc.)

• The dominant theme of this policy was that while conservation of environmental
resources is necessary to secure livelihoods and well-being of all, the most secure
basis for conservation is to ensure that people dependent on particular resources
obtain better livelihoods from the fact of conservation, than from degradation of
the resource.
• The policy also desired to stimulate partnerships of different stakeholders, i.e.
public agencies, local communities, academic and scientific institutions, the
investment community, and international development partners, in harnessing
their respective resources and strengths for environmental management.
 In case of Tribunal At Its Own Motion vs Ministry Of
Environment Others on 4 April, 2014

the issue to be examined is whether these mines are sanctioned and allowed to
operate in violation of provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
(for find no reason from Wildlife Management approach to recommend any ban
on the mining activities in question duly sanctioned by the concerned
authorities."
 THE INDIAN FOREST ACT (1927)
• The main objective of the Indian Forest Act (1927) is to secure exclusive state
control over forests to meet the demand for timber. Most of these untitled
lands had traditionally belonged to the forest dwelling communities. The Act
defined state ownership, regulated its use and appropriated the power to
substitute or extinguish customary rights. The Act facilitates three categories of
forests, namely :
› Reserved forests
› Village forests
› Protected forests
• Reserved forests are the most protected within these categories. No rights can
be acquired in reserved forests except by succession or under a grant or
contract with the government. Felling trees, grazing cattle, removing forest
products, quarrying, fishing, and hunting are punishable with a fine or
imprisonment.
 6. THE FOREST CONSERVATION ACT
(1980)

 In order to check rapid deforestation due to forestlands being released by state

governments for agriculture, industry and other development projects (allowed under the
Indian Forest Act), the federal government enacted the Forest Conservation Act in 1980
with an amendment in 1988.
 The Act made the prior approval of the federal government necessary for de-reservation of
reserved forests, logging and for use of forestland for non-forest purposes.
 This powerful legislation has, to a large extent, curtailed the indiscriminate logging and
release of forestland for non-forestry purposes by state governments.
 While the federal government imposed such strict restrictions, it did not simultaneously
evolve a mechanism to compensate state governments for loss of timber logging revenues.
 The Supreme Court of India has currently imposed a complete ban on the release of
forestland for non-forestry activities without the prior approval of the federal government.
 PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN THE BY INDIAN
GOVERNMENT FOR WILDLIFE PROTECTION

Wildlife is an important component of biodiversity. To prevent the

extinction of species, various projects have been initiated by the Indian
government, such as :

› Project Tiger

› Project Elephant

› Indian Rhino Vision 2020

› Crocodile Conservation Project

› Sea Turtle Project

› Vulture Conservation Project

 PROJECT TIGER

• One of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures ‘Project

Tiger’ which was initiated way back in 1972, has not only contributed
to the conservation of tigers but also of the entire ecosystem.
This project is sponsored by Ministry of Environment Forest and
Climate Change.
• About 47 tiger reserves situated in more than 17 regions including
Corbett National Park (Uttarakhand) and Ranthambore National Park
(Rajasthan) are part of this project which conducts assessments of
number of tigers, their habitat, hunting habits under the supervision of
the Tiger Task Force.
• Project Tiger has seen significant success in recovery of the habitat
and increase in the population of the tigers in the reserve areas, from a
scanty 268 in 9 reserves in 1972 to above 1000 in 28 reserves in 2006
to 2000+ tigers in 2016.
PROJECT ELEPHANT

• Initiated in 1992 which aims at conserving elephants and their habitat and of migratory
routes by developing scientific and planned management measures.

• Under the project welfare of the domestic elephants is also considered, issues like mitigation
of human- elephant conflict are also taken care of.

• The project’s endeavor is to strengthen the measures for protection of elephants against
poachers and unnatural death.

INDIAN RHINO VISION 2020

• It is an effort of pact made by the Bodoland Territorial Council, WWF (World Wildlife
Fund), IRF (International Rhino Fund) and the US Fish and Wildlife Services.

• It’s main objective is to conserve at least 3000 greater one-horned rhinos in Assam, India by
2020.
 CROCODILE CONSERVATION PROJECT
➢ This project was started to conserve the crocodiles,
whose species were on the verge of extinction once.

➢ The main objectives are :

• to protect the remaining population of crocodiles

and their natural habitat by establishing sanctuaries;

• to promote captive breeding;

• to improve management;

• to involve the local people in the project intimately.

➢ It is worth noticing that with the initiation of

Crocodile Conservation Project, 4000 alligators,
3300 crocodiles could be restocked.
 SEA TURTLE PROJECT

• With an objective to conserve the Olive Ridley Turtles, the Sea Turtle Project
was initiated by Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun as the Implementing
Agency in November 1999.

• The project is for 10 coastal state in India especially Odisha where it has
contributed towards the preparation of a map of breeding sites of Sea Turtles;
identification of breeding places and habitats along the coast line, and
migratory routes taken by Sea Turtles.

• The project also helped in the development of guidelines to safeguard the turtle
mortality rate and for tourism in sea turtle areas.

• Amongst the major achievements of the project is the demonstration of use of

Satellite Telemetry to locate the migratory route of sea turtles in the sea.
 The goods are prohibited for export under section
113(d) of Customs Act, 1962 (read with Wildlife
Protection Act, 1972).
On 19 march 2021 Delhi Customs officials seized about 21 lakh
pieces of peacock tail feathers at the Inland Container Depot at
Tughlakabad while they were being smuggled to China. The value
of the seized peacock tail feathers is estimated to be about ₹5.25
crore,.
 Conclusion
 India is a country blessed with a huge diversity in natural resources. It has a
variety of flora and fauna. Such resources must be protected and reserved. For
the same reason, the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was brought into force.
Many changes were brought with the Amendment Act,2002. This Act acts like a
blanket of protection for various flora and fauna from illegal poaching, killing,
trading in wild animals and various species of plants. This Act consists of 60
Sections and divided into 8 chapters. This Act empowers the State as well as
the Central government to declare any area as Sanctuary, National Park.
Various restrictions are imposed to carry any activity under these areas and
officers are appointed to administer the activities which are carried on under
those areas. Many restrictions on trade and commerce are imposed to stop the
illegal activities. This act helps in protecting, conserving and preserving the
wildlife.