NATIONAL WILDLIFE ACTION PLAN

The first National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) was adopted in 1983, based upon the decision taken in the XV meeting of the Indian Board for Wildlife held in 1982. The plan had outlined the strategies and action points for wildlife conservation which are still relevant. In the meanwhile, however, some problems have become more acute and new concerns have become apparent, requiring a change in priorities. Increased commercial use of natural resources, continued growth of human and livestock populations and changes in consumption patterns are causing greater demographic impacts. Biodiversity conservation has thus become a focus of interest. The National Forest Policy was also formulated in 1988, giving primacy to conservation. Hence this new National Wildlife Action Plan.

Policy Imperatives

1. Ecological Security: To protect the long-term ecological security of India, the national development agenda must recognise the imperative of identifying and protecting natural ecosystems from over-exploitation, contamination and degradation. Short-term economic gains must not be permitted to undermine ecological security.

2. Priority to Conservation: Assigning conservation a high priority both at the level of central and state governments is an imperative. Its integration in all development programmes, evolving appropriate funding mechanism, enhancement of financial allocations and provision of adequate personnel with requisite expertise has to be ensured, to arrest the ongoing trend of degradation and to restore wildlife and its habitat.

3. National Land Use Policy: The NWAP cannot be executed in isolation. Wildlife conservation cannot be restricted to national parks and sanctuaries. Areas outside the protected area network are often vital ecological corridor links and must be protected to prevent isolation of fragments of biodiversity, which will not survive in the long run. Land and water use policies will need to accept the imperative of strictly protecting ecologically fragile habitats and regulating use elsewhere.

4. Primacy for Water and Sustenance: Water must be recognised as a prime produce of natural forests. Forests must be managed to optimise and protect hydrological systems. The National Forest Policy of 1988, which emphasises conserving our natural heritage in the form of natural forests, flora and fauna, is in consonance with this imperative. A critical imperative is also to recognise forests, wetlands and other natural habitats as a source of survival for millions of people, in particular as a source of NTFP and aquatic resources.

5. In situ Conservation: Primacy must be accorded to in situ conservation, the sheet anchor of wildlife conservation. Ex situ measures in zoological parks and gene banks may supplement this objective, without depleting scarce wild resources.

6. Peoples’ Support for Wildlife: Local communities traditionally depend on natural biomass and they must, therefore, have the first lien on such resources. Such benefits must be subject to assumption of a basic responsibility to protect and conserve these resources by suitably modifying unsustainable activities. Conservation programmes must attempt to reconcile livelihood security with wildlife protection through creative zonation and by adding new Protected Area (PA) categories in consultation with local communities, such as an inviolate core, conservation buffer, community buffer and multiple use areas.

7. Man-Animal Conflict: While increasing man-animal conflict is an outcome of shrinkage, fragmentation and deterioration of habitats, it has caused destruction of wildlife and generated animosity against wild animals and protected areas. This is a crucial management issue, which needs to be addressed through innovative approaches.

Strategy for Action

Adopting and implementing strategies and needs outlined above will call for action covering the following parameters:

I Strengthening and Enhancing the Protected Area Network

II Effective Management of Protected Areas

III Conservation of Wild and Endangered Species and Their Habitats

IV Restoration of Degraded Habitats outside Protected Areas

V Control of Poaching, Taxidermy and Illegal Trade in Wild Animal and Plant Species

VI Monitoring and Research

VII Human Resource Development and Personnel Planning

VIII Ensuring Peoples’ Participation in Wildlife Conservation

IX Conservation Awareness and Education

X Wildlife Tourism

XI Domestic Legislation and International Conventions

XII Enhancing Financial Allocation for Ensuring Sustained Fund Flow to the

Wildlife Sector

XIII Integration of National Wildlife Action Plan with Other Sectoral Programmes