Lok Sabha Question No. 6469 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-04-06
Subject: Preservation of Biodiversity
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: RAJESHBHAI NARANBHAI CHUDASAMA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO. 6469

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.04.2018

## Preservation of Biodiversity

## 6469.  SHRI RAJESHBHAI CHUDASAMA

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  Government  has  taken  any  steps  for  preservation  of  biodiversity  and resources in the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether various interventions and activities in forest areas have severely affected the biodiversity  of  plants  and  wildlife  in  different  areas  of  the  country  and  if  so,  the details thereof, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether  Government  is  chalking  out  any  scheme  to  regulate  the  interventions  and other activities in the forest areas for the protection of flora and fauna of the country; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the time by which it is likely to be implemented?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) Some important steps taken by the Government for preservation of biodiversity inter alia  include  survey,  inventorization,  taxonomic  validation  and  threat  assessment  of floral  and  faunal  resources;  assessment  of  the  forest  cover  to  develop  an  accurate database for planning and monitoring; establishment of a Protected Area Network of National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation and Community  Reserves; declaration  of  eco-sensitive  zones  around  national  parks;  designating  Biosphere Reserves  for  conservation  of  representative  ecosystems;  undertaking  of  species oriented programmes, such as Project Tiger and Project Elephant complemented with ex-situ  conservation  efforts;  and  development  of  National  Biodiversity  Action  Plan and National Biodiversity Targets, and National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031. In  addition,  Biological  Diversity  Act  enacted  in  2002  aims  to  conserve  biological resources  of  the  country  and  regulate  access  to  these  resources  to  ensure  equitable sharing  of  benefits  arising  out  of  their  use,  under  which  a  National  Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards in all States have been set up for implementing the provisions of the Act.
- (b) to (d)  The Government has put in place several measures towards ensuring that interventions and activities in forest areas do not adversely affect the biodiversity.

For ensuring protection of flora and fauna within protected areas, Management Plans are  prepared  by  State  Forest  Departments  which  inter  alia  include  a  schedule  of activities  to  be  taken  up  over a  period  of  ten  years.  The  Wild  Life  (Protection) Act 1972 provides for  due  diligence before approval  of any  activity  is  accorded  by  the State Government within a protected area.

In addition, the Central Government provides financial assistance to States and Union Territories  under  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  such  as  Integrated  Development  of Wildlife  Habitat;  Project  Tiger,  and  Project  Elephant  for  better  protection  and conservation  of  wildlife  and  their  habitat;  and  identification  of  forest  management scheme  towards  protection  and  management  of  forests.  The  Government  supports conservation  of  some  prioritised/threatened  medicinal  plants  harboured  in  specially designated Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas that are primarily forested areas.

The  National  Afforestation  &  Eco-development  Board  of  the  Ministry  promotes afforestation, tree planting, ecological restoration and ecodevelopment activities in the country, with special attention to degraded areas as well as ecologically fragile areas.

Notwithstanding these measures, various non-forestry activities undertaken in forest areas  for  mining,  industries,  hydel  power  development,  irrigation  dams,  railways, roads and other essential developmental activities may have adverse impact on forests and biodiversity in the diverted forest areas. In order to compensate this loss of forest areas, compensatory afforestation on equivalent non-forest land is done to compensate the loss of forest and biodiversity, and such non-forest lands are declared as Protected Forests/Reserve Forests under Indian Forest Act 1927. In case of Central Government and  Public  Sector  Undertaking  projects,  compensatory  afforestation  is  done  over twice  the  area  of  degraded  forest  area  at  the  cost  of  user  agency  to  improve  and conserve the biodiversity in the degraded forest.

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