ESZ Full Form

What is the full form of ESZ?

ESZ full form refers to Eco-Sensitive Zones. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, notifies areas that are ecologically fragile or sensitive around protected areas, national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries as Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) or Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs). By controlling and supervising the activities in and around protected areas, ESZs serve as a form of "shock absorber" for the protected regions. They serve as a crossing point between regions with high levels of protection and those with lower levels of protection.

This Story also Contains

1. What is the full form of ESZ?
2. Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ) Objectives
3. Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ) - Why in the news?
4. Features of Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ)
5. Statutory backing
6. Significance of Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ)
7. Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ) - Activities Permitted
8. How Eco-Sensitive Zones Help in conservation?
9. Need for Guidelines

Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ) Objectives

By managing and regulating activity in the surrounding areas, the central aim of the ESZ declaration is to create a kind of shock absorber for the protected areas.

They also establish a transition zone between parts with light protection and those with substantial protection.

Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ) - Why in the news?

Controversy surrounding the proposed ESZ around Kerala's Wayanad wildlife reserve.

• What happened?

A proposed notification to establish an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of 118.59 sq km surrounding the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala was published by the MoEFCC on January 28.

• View of Government:

The state government wants to measure an area of 88.2 sq km around the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary because it believes densely inhabited areas should be avoided when identifying eco-sensitive zones.

• Concerns of Farmers:

The lives of thousands of farmers living on the edge of the sanctuary, spread across six communities, would suffer significantly.

Furthermore, without the approval of forest officials, the farmers would not be able to use the land or the trees they had planted.

In the Eco-Sensitive Zones, construction of homes, roads, and other development activities would be impacted.

Features of Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ)

The government has the authority to undertake all necessary measures for pollution control and prevention, environmental protection, and quality-of-life improvement.

An ESZ can surround a wildlife sanctuary or other protected area for up to 10 kilometres. Additionally, the Eco-Sensitive Zones [ESZ] can go beyond 10 km in situations where sensitive corridors and ecologically significant areas necessary for landscape connection are present.

Statutory backing

The Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 makes no mention of "Eco-Sensitive Zones." However, the Central Government may impose restrictions on the locations where any industries, operations, or processes, or a class of industries, operations, or processes, may be conducted or may be conducted with specific safeguards, according to Section 3(2)(v) of the Act. In addition, Rule 5(1) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986[1] specifies that the central government may impose restrictions on the location of industries and the conduct of specific operations or processes based on factors such as the biological diversity of a region, the maximum allowable limits of pollutant concentration for a region, environmentally friendly land use, and proximity to protected areas. The government has successfully declared ESZs or EFAs using the aforementioned two clauses. [2]

The government has created No Development Zones based on the same standards. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) occasionally approves a thorough set of regulations that establish the parameters and standards for declaring ESZs. This is put together by a committee that MoEF established. The rules specify the requirements for determining which regions can be declared as ESZs. These include ecosystem-based (holy groves, frontier woods, etc.), species-based (endemism, rarity, etc.), and geomorphologic feature-based approaches (uninhabited islands, origins of rivers etc.). [3]

Significance of Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ)

In an Eco-Sensitive Zone, it is specifically banned to discharge solid or liquid waste, produce hazardous substances, use commercial wood, set up hydroelectric projects, run industries that produce pollution, operate commercial sawmills, engage in mining, or engage in tourism activities like flying hot air balloons over a protected area.

It is banned to utilise water for business reasons, build hotels and resorts, cut down trees, alter the agriculture system, enlarge roads, or lay cables, among other things. The ESZ permits organic farming, continuous horticultural techniques, the use of renewable resources, the collection of rainwater, and green technological initiatives.

Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ) - Activities Permitted

• Ongoing agricultural or horticultural techniques, rainwater harvesting, organic farming, the use of renewable energy sources, and the adoption of green technologies for all activities are all permitted activities under eco-sensitive zones.

• Commercial mining, sawmills, industries that pollute the environment (air, water, soil, noise, etc.), the construction of large hydroelectric projects (HEP), the commercial use of wood, tourism-related activities like hot-air balloon flights over national parks, the discharge of effluents or any solid waste, and the production of hazardous materials are all prohibited under ESZs.

• Regulations apply to the following activities: cutting down trees, building hotels and resorts, using natural water for commercial purposes, erecting electrical lines, significantly changing the agriculture system, such as by using heavy equipment, insecticides, etc., and expanding roads.

How Eco-Sensitive Zones Help in conservation?

Eco-Sensitive Zones [ESZ] aid in site preservation, protecting local community organisations, reducing conflict between people and animals, and preserving species in their native habitats.

The Wildlife Sanctuary of Wayanad in Kerala was declared one of the most recent Eco-Sensitive Zones by the MoEFCC in 2021. 19 sq. km of the 118.5 sq. km area declared as an ESZ is made up of settlements located near the sanctuary. This is a crucial idea for the preservation of the vast ecological resources of the nation, even though it is not always well received by trade interests and communities.

Despite having the best of intentions, there have been protests against the establishment of eco-sensitive zones because of how they will affect local commerce and agriculture.

The government and municipal authorities are still looking for ways to monetize these zones and use their tourist potential to assist the local economy.

Need for Guidelines

• Only states like Haryana, Gujarat, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Assam, and Goa submitted suggestions to the MoEF in keeping with the Supreme Court's ruling.

• The construction of a park at Noida near the Okhla Bird Sanctuary was the subject of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India's ruling in Shri Anand Arya & Anr, T.N. On December 3, 2010, Godavarman Thirumulpad sued the Union of India and others. In that case, the court noted that the State of Uttar Pradesh had not declared any eco-sensitive zones around its protected areas because the Government of India had not issued any guidelines in this regard. [7]

• After that, the MoEF established a committee with Shri Pronab Sen as its chairman to determine the criteria for designating ecologically sensitive areas in India. The factors that were determined included slope, rarity and endemism of local species, the origins of rivers, and the abundance of flora and fauna.