With a wide range of climatic zones available in India, the embracing of a diverse range of biodiversity is quite natural. At the same time what cannot be ignored is the drastic change in the climate and the impact it can have on the biodiversity. For a long time, the use of protected area has been crucial in safeguarding the biodiversity of our country.
The protected areas provide species to thrive in situations that are adept to their lifestyle and breeding conditions. There has been considerable change in the distribution of species in India with increased climatic temperature and the rising global temperature. It is also important to note that India contains sections of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots. Since there has been wide distribution of biodiversity across the Indian landscape, the protection of this biodiversity can be economically valuable as well[1].
Therefore, it is important to understand how instrumental ad efficient the protected areas are in the preservation of biodiversity and this can be studied under the following points:
(a) does protected areas cover the diversity of species and ecosystems
(b) assessing their management adequacy in terms of staff and resources
(c) the extent to which the protected areas make a difference to the present and future
(d) condition of the species within the ecosystem of protected areas.
Does protected areas cover the diversity of species and ecosystems
The Aichi Biodiversity Targets, provides that the earth’s land surface should increase from 13% so that more biodiversity can be covered. India consists of 104 National Parks and 551 Wildlife Sanctuaries. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, India has also introduced two additional legal categories for its protected areas.
At the same time no bird or mammal has been known to have been lost from India since the cheetah. But at the same time there are some underlying threats that are surrounded in these protected areas.[2] The foremost underlying threat is that of hunting. There has been improved technology in the use of weapons has led to the hunting of tigers and some of the primary targets been pheasants, bears and primates.
One such protected area threatened by hunting is the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in the east Himalaya. Even though India has strong legislations for the preservation of nature but one of the biggest disadvantages in terms of the efficiency of protected areas is that they are too small to maintain a wide range of species, making connectivity and species use of buffer zones a crucial issue and which should be looked into to increase the efficiency of it.
Assessing their management adequacy in terms of staff or resources
According to the IUCN, a protected management plan for protected areas should include a framework that sets out decision making and helps to set out clear management approaches and goals. This particular plan’s objective should be to ensure that the protected areas achieve for what it was established. One of the important principles of adequate management is threat based planning. For this, we take a situation where there is illegal hunting prevalent in an area so a typical planning would include an approach to set objectives for the protected areas would be come up with guidelines and then the implementation of it which would allow land and marine managers to address a wide range of threats and prevent threats from developing in these protected areas.
One of the key methods to assess the management effectiveness of national parks in India is through Management Effectiveness Evaluation. One of the primary objectives of this evaluation is to design issues which relate to both individual sites and protected area systems[3]. Under India’s Project Tiger, management effectiveness assessment of 28 TRs in 2006, 39 TRs in 2010, 43 TRs in 2014 and 50 TRs in 2018 was carried out. Three Natural World Heritage sites in South Asia, namely Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan, Kaziranga National Park, Assam and Chitwan National Park, Nepal were evaluated in 2002-2007. The national parks and wildlife sanctuaries which are notified under Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 are subjected to evaluation through global MEE framework.
One full cycle of MEE of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries (NP&WLS) has been completed till 2020 excluding Coastal & Marine PAs and PAs in Tiger Reserves dealt separately. Also, in the last cycle repeat evaluation of 25 NP&WLS were conducted, which were first evaluated during 2005- 06. Now all NP&WLS are being subjected to evaluation for the second time in repeat cycle to detect the change in management of the system.(https://wii.gov.in/images/images/documents/mee/technical_manual_MEE_PA_2020-21.pdf ). Therefore the efficacy of the protected areas can be increased with the introduction of more methods of assessment which allows the managers as well as the local support to come forward and help in the underlying threats in these areas and increase the impact of protected areas.
The extent to which the protected areas make a difference to the present and future
Despite the fact that the concept of protected areas was established years ago, the need and importance of it can be felt now especially in the Asian continent. Assia’s highest population density is 1.5 times the global average. IUCN thus says that biological resource use, natural system modifications and agricultural and aquaculture expansion can be the threats faced by the protected areas at this present time. With all of these developmental programmes for the population, the protected areas could come under immense human pressure.
The lack of governmental policies for effective conservation policies could affect the biodiversity in the future.[4] Thus, this particular point shows how adverse are the conditions of these areas and how very little has been done about it. Most of the governments have left most of these protected areas with very little monetary management thus limiting these areas to protect only buffer species from habitat loss and over exploitation and do very little in the protection of biodiversity with the current issues of climate change, overexploitation, pollution and invasive species. Thus, a well conserved area should be a result of strong collaboration between law enforcement departments, policy makers, local communities and other stakeholders.
Condition of the species and the ecosysyem within their boundaries
One of the key highlights of studies done have shown that even though eco-tourism could be a valuable source of income for the government, there has been lack of data and increasing threats. The importance of evaluation on biodiversity in buffer zones, development of long-term monitoring schemes and assessment of cash and conservation benefits from tourism are in particular need. Another neglected area would be the coastal and marine protected areas in India(https://wii.gov.in/images/images/documents/GIZ/Reference.pdf) With the objective of satisfying the Aichi targets, more efforts are required to secure and strengthen participation in the management of the MPA network in India. Thus, there has is a long way to achieve this particular area of sufficiency.
Way forward
Even though India has set about 106 National Parks, 325 bio reserves and 567 sanctuaries (as of 2023) to protect the rich biodiversity, there’s still a lot to do and achieve in order to increase the efficiency and value of these protected areas.[5] Therefore, it is important to understand the underlying threats to the biodiversity and at the same time support the local community and the indigenous people. Globally, there has been a massive commitment to restore and protect large areas of terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
While initiatives like 30 by 30 is obviously great, governments, organizations and individuals must invest in the delicacies of protecting natural ecosystems. Without nuanced restoration and protection, efforts will not prove fruit fall! In order to reap the greatest benefits from the protected areas in our future we must ensure that effective assessment leads to discovery of areas that are most important for biodiversity, ensure that conservation supports land connectivity and also pursue conservation in various regions to ensure the global system of protected areas.
[1] ‘Protected areas and biodiversity conservation in India’ (Nature Conservation Foundation – India) <www.ncf-india.org/publications/protected-areas-and-biodiversity-conservation-in-india#:~:text=The%205%%20of%20India%20officially%20protected%20covers%20most,documented%20species%20extinctions%20in%20the%20past%2070%20years.> accessed 1 May 2024.
[2] Wei Zhang, Ehsan Dulloo and Gina Kennedy, ‘Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ [2019] Sustainable Food and Agriculture 137, XXXX.
[3] Katherine Pulido and Elina Virtanen, ‘How effective are protected areas for reducing threats to biodiversity? A systematic review protocol’ (2023) 12 Environmental Evidence 18, XXXX.
[4] Abdul Rahoof K K, ‘Protected Areas: the Past, Present, and Future of Conservation | Earth.Org’ (Earth.Org, 11 May 2019) <https://earth.org/protected-areas-the-past-present-and-future-of-conservation/302927> accessed 1 May 2024.
[5] ‘How effective are Protected Areas for conservation?’ (Think Wildlife Foundation | Let’s preserve our planet’s biodiversity) <https://thinkwildlifefoundation.com/how-effective-are-protected-areas-for-conservation/#:~:text=How%20to%20strengthen%20the%20efficacy%20of%20Protected%20areas?,Local%20Communities%20…%205%20Education%20and%20Awareness%20> accessed 1 May 2024.
Author: Riya Dipak, a 5th-year law student from Christ Academy Institute of Law, Bangalore.
