Language: English
This is the first comprehensive compilation of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) and the range of experiences associated with them. It traces the chronology of the notifications declaring ESAs in India using the Environment Protection Act, 1986. It also reflects on the various mechanisms through which each of these ESAs came to be declared, rejected or remain pending with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The detailed accounts of each of the ESAs, a comparison of the provisions and the range of actors involved, throw critical light on the trajectories of these ESAs.
Based on in-depth interviews and review of a number of documents ranging from government records to those shared by activists/NGOs, the report arrives at some conclusions. The authors hope to add these to the process of understanding the possibilities that ESAs offer as a landscape-level planning tool for the conservation of multiple-use areas. Their conclusions also raise some critical concerns on how ESAs have come to be declared as well as implemented.