Date: 10/12/2022

Relevance: GS-3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Key Phrases: Wild Life Protection Act 1972, Amendment Bill, Endangered Species, Wildlife Trade, CITES, Customs Act, Foreign Trade Development Regulation Act.

Why in News?

• The Rajya Sabha has passed the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2022, which seeks to strengthen the protection of endangered species and enhance punishment for illegal wildlife trade.
• It seeks to give effect to India's obligations under the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which requires countries to regulate the trade of all listed specimens through permits.

Key Highlights:

• The Bill will amend the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to increase the protection of species under the law.
• In India, illegal animal trade is regulated under Customs Act, Foreign Trade Development Regulation Act, Exim Policy and Wildlife Protection Act.
• However, the bill is brought since CITES requires an independent framework for Wildlife protection.
• The Bill is also beneficial for local tribal communities as it provides for certain permitted activities to them such as grazing, movement of livestock, and bona fide use of drinking and household water.

Major features of the proposed bill:

• The bill inserts a new Schedule for specimens listed in the Appendices under CITES.
• An amendment to Section 6 is done to constitute a Standing Committee to exercise such powers and duties as may be delegated to it by the State Board for Wildlife.
• Amendment to Section 43 to permit elephants, a Schedule I animal, to be used for 'religious or any other purpose'.
• Insert Section 49E to empower the Central government to designate a Management Authority to grant export or import permits for trade of specimens.
• Insert Section 49F to empower the Central government to designate a Scientific Authority to advise on aspects related to the impact on the survival of the specimens being traded. These provisions are set to ensure the "sustainable" exploitation of flora and fauna.
• It provides that the Chief Wildlife Warden shall act in accordance with the management plans for the sanctuary, to be prepared as per Central guidelines.
• It also empowers both Central and State governments to declare areas adjacent to national parks and sanctuaries as a conservation reserves, for protecting flora and fauna, and their habitat.
• The Bill also empowers the Central government to regulate and stop the import, trade or possession of invasive plant or animal alien species.
• It further requires every person possessing live specimens of scheduled animals to obtain a registration certificate from the Management Authority. It provides that people may "voluntarily surrender" any captive animals to the Chief Wildlife Warden, and such surrendered animals will become the property of the state government.

Concerns against the bill:

1. Against Federal Structure of Indian Constitution:

• Protection of wild animals and birds is a subject under the Concurrent List of the Constitution.
• The proposed amendment bill renders the State Boards for Wildlife chaired by Chief Minister defunct. It provides for establishing a Standing Committee of the Board for Wildlife to be headed by the Forest Minister with maximum 10 nominated members.
• This reduces the state's involvement and injures India's Federal structure.

2. Transfer or transport of captive elephants:

• The bill allows the transfer or transport of a captive elephant for a religious or any other purpose.
• The conservationists have recommended limiting it only to temple elephants kept for religious purposes as the sweeping ambit of “any other purpose” will empower elephant traders to put wild populations at greater risk of capture and defeat the very purpose of WLPA.

Protection accorded to elephants in India:

• The Indian Forest Act in 1927 listed the elephant as cattle.
• Later, when WLPA was enacted in 1972, it identified the elephant, bullock, camel, donkey, horse, and mule, as a “vehicle”.
• The elephant was given the highest legal protection in 1977. Currently, an elephant is the only animal in WLPA’s Schedule-I that can still be owned legally by means of inheritance or gift.
• Since 2003, Section 3 of the WLPA prohibited trade in all captive wildlife and any (non-commercial) transfer across state boundaries without the permission of the respective chief wildlife warden.
• This started the unlawful trading of elephants and their commercial deals were fabricated as gift deeds to bypass the amendment.

The Vermin Conflict:

• It is the biggest challenge to the livelihood of farmers around India’s many protected forests.
• The WLPA, 1972 has identified fruit bats, common crows, and rats — as vermin. Killing animals outside this list was allowed under two circumstances:
• Under Section 62 of WLPA, given sufficient reasons, any species other than those accorded the highest legal protection (such as tigers and elephants but not wild boars or nilgais) can be declared vermin at a certain place for a certain time.
• Under Section 11 of WLPA, the chief wildlife warden of a state can allow the killing of an animal, irrespective of its status in the Schedules, if it becomes “dangerous to human life”.

Declaration of a species as vermin:

• The decision for declaring vermin was taken by the state governments until 1991 when an amendment handed over the powers to the Centre.
• The purpose was to restrict the possibility of eliminating a large number of animals at a species level as vermin. Under Section 11, the states could issue culling permits only locally and for a few animals.
• In recent years, however, the Centre has started using its powers under Section 62 to issue sweeping orders declaring species as vermin at even state levels, often without any credible scientific assessment.
• Kerala’s requests for declaring wild boars as vermin have been turned down repeatedly by the Environment ministry since last year.

Conclusion:

• The Management and Scientific Authorities contemplated under the Bill must take into account the strong principles of Federalism and ensure constructive engagement of State governments.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. Highlight the major features of the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2022 recently introduced as well as the concerns associated with it. (250 words).