Kerala issues order excluding human habitations from ESZ
KOCHI: The Kerala government on Wednesday issued an order approving the amendments proposed by the state in the draft notification on ecologically sensitive zone (ESZ) of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).
The new order proposes to exclude human habitations, farmlands and revenue land from the ESZ. With this, the order issued by the government on October 31, 2019, to declare 0 to 1 km area around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks has become null and void.
The recommendation to declare one-km area around 23 wildlife sanctuaries and national parks had triggered protests as people living in forest fringe areas feared that the declaration will bring restrictions and affect their livelihood. Following protests, former forest minister K Raju convened a meeting on September 28, 2020, which decided to recommend the Union ministry to avoid human habitations and government property from the ambit of ESZ.
Subsequently, the eco sensitive zones of all the 23 protected forests were redrawn and submitted between October 5, 2020 and March 7, 2022. While the MoEF was preparing the final notification, a 3-member bench of the Supreme Court on June 3, 2022 issued an order directing to declare one-km area around every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary as ESZ. Following this, the MoEF had returned the recommendations submitted by Kerala on June 29, 2022.
The biggest hurdle for Kerala in filing a modification petition before the Supreme Court to avoid human habitations.