Friday, May 21, 2010
Draft
‘Regulatory Framework for Conservation of Wetlands’
Recognizing the value of wetlands and taking cognizance of the fact
that there does not yet exist a formal system for conservation and management
and wise-use of wetlands, the National Environment Policy (NEP), 2006 seeks to
set up a legally enforceable regulatory mechanism for identified valuable
wetlands to prevent their degradation, enhance their conservation and wise-use
by all the stakeholders. In pursuance of the policy resolution, a multidisciplinary
expert group was set up in the Ministry of Environment and
Forests which held a series of meetings to formulate a structure for regulatory
framework for wetlands.
2. After elaborate discussions on this issue, the Ministry came up with a
draft regulatory framework for conservation of wetlands. The draft framework
enlists some of the activities which are prohibited and others which need to be
regulated. Categorization of wetlands has also been proposed on the basis of
significance of the functions performed and for determining the extent and level
of regulation. In the draft regulation, there is provision for creation of Wetlands
Regulatory Authorities at the central, state and district level for granting
clearance for permissible activity and for exercising regulatory functions. It is
also proposed to have wetland appraisal committee for appraising the proposals
for identification of new wetlands.
3 The draft of the Regulatory Framework for wetlands was put up on
the website of the Ministry for 90 days on 10-07-2008 to seek comments
of all the stakeholders concerned. The comments received were
incorporated appropriately and the final draft can be downloaded from
the website. It has been decided to put the draft again on the website of
the Ministry for a period of one month for inviting comments from all the
interested stakeholders. The comments if any may be communicated on
the addresses given below by 21st of June 2010.
Dr. Siddharth Kaul, Scientist ‘F’ s.kaul@nic.in /DD(SR)
Dr. Shruti Rai, Scientist ‘C’ shruti.rai@nic.in;
Mr. A K Goyal, Joint Secretary akg@nic.in
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