Subject: Two new protected areas to be brought under Wildlife Act 


PRESS TRUST OF INDIA   
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BANGALORE, Oct 24: The Centre has proposed to introduce two new categories of
protected areas under the national wildlife legislation, and is preparing
action plans for the forest, wildlife and environment sectors, to be
implemented over the next 15 to 20 years.

Stating this at the sixth World Wilderness Congress, which opened here today,
Union Environment and Forests Minister Suresh Prabhu announced that the two
categories were community and conservation reserves. Community reserves,
Prabhu said, would provide a legal recognition of voluntary wildlife
conservation efforts by certain communities, such as the Bishnois in western
parts of the country and some tribes in the north-west region.The second
category would allow conservation of identified natural resources in
designated areas along with sustainable utilisation of the resources by local
communities, he said.

The Minister expressed the hope that these two additional categories of
protected areas would help resolve some of the conflicts arisingbetween
conservation and development needs in the country. Prabhu said the action
plans, being drawn up by his ministry, would include strategies for increasing
the forest cover to achieve the target of 33 per cent and for involving women
in the afforestation effort.

Prabhu noted that India was among the few countries to have drafted a
legislation to safeguard bio-diversity and fulfil obligations under the
convention on bio-diversity. The draft was currently being finalised for
enacting a `workable' Act. In his key-note address, he said the nature
conservation effort could not be confined to protected areas alone and must
encompass the surrounding human landscapes as well.

``Nature conservation cannot be the preserve of only government departments or
a few agencies and organisations. Each one of us and every sector of
development will have to contribute and involve themselves in this movement,''
he added. Prabhu said, joint forest management and eco-development programmes
had been launched in response tothe need for relieving pressure on resources
of the forests and protected areas by fully involving local communities in
their management.

These successful models of participatory management, he said, were now being
extended to more areas.

Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.