In a recent judgement, the Supreme Court of India directed that every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of a minimum of
- (a)1 km starting from their demarcated boundaries
- (b)2 km starting from their demarcated boundaries
- (c)3 km starting from their demarcated boundaries
- (d)5 km starting from their demarcated boundaries
Correct — A, 1 km starting from their demarcated boundaries. By its order of 3 June 2022 in the long-running T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad forest case, the Supreme Court directed that every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary in the country must have an eco-sensitive zone of at least one kilometre measured from its demarcated boundary. The same order barred any new permanent structure inside that zone and required activities there to follow the environment ministry's guidelines of 9 February 2011.
- (b)2 km starting from their demarcated boundaries — The June 2022 direction set the floor at one kilometre, not two. Individual eco-sensitive zones can be wider, but their widths come from site-specific notifications of the environment ministry, not from this order.
- (c)3 km starting from their demarcated boundaries — No uniform three-kilometre minimum was directed. Three kilometres is a plausible-sounding round figure, which is exactly why it is offered here.
- (d)5 km starting from their demarcated boundaries — Five kilometres is far wider than anything the Court made mandatory nationwide. The mandatory national floor in that order was one kilometre.
An eco-sensitive zone is a regulated belt of land around a national park or wildlife sanctuary, meant to act as a shock absorber between the strictly protected area and the ordinary landscape outside it. Such zones are notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under Section 3(2)(v) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 read with Rule 5(1) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986. Their purpose is to regulate and manage damaging activity in the belt, not to prohibit human presence altogether.
The question tests a number, but the reasoning that keeps it in memory is the idea behind the number — the Court was setting a nationwide default floor because many protected areas still had no notified zone at all, and a default has to be modest enough to be workable everywhere. That is why it landed on one kilometre rather than a large figure. Anchor the fact to the exam date of 4 September 2022, when the June 2022 direction was fresh law. It has since moved: the Supreme Court modified the blanket one-kilometre direction by its order of 26 April 2023, so the uniform national minimum no longer stands as it did in 2022, and today's position must be read from the later order and the ministry's site-specific notifications.
- Eco-sensitive zones are notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under Section 3(2)(v) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Rule 5(1) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.
- The Supreme Court's order of 3 June 2022 directed a minimum eco-sensitive zone of one kilometre from the demarcated boundary of every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary.
- That order also barred new permanent structures inside the zone and required activities to follow the ministry's guidelines of 9 February 2011.
- The Court modified the blanket one-kilometre direction by its order of 26 April 2023, so the 2022 rule is no longer the current uniform national floor.
- A national park, wildlife sanctuary or protected forest with a demarcated boundary
- A belt of at least 1 km measured outward from that boundary becomes the mandatory eco-sensitive zone
- Inside the belt, no new permanent structure; other activities follow the ministry's 2011 guidelines
- Modified by the Supreme Court's later order of 26 April 2023
A regulated buffer outside the protected area, not a second protected area.
- Believing eco-sensitive zones are declared under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 — they are notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
- Assuming an eco-sensitive zone bans all human activity; it regulates activity rather than prohibiting it outright.
- Quoting the 2022 one-kilometre rule as today's law without noting the Court's later modification.
A numeric recall about a recent court direction, with plausible round-number distances as the distractors.
With reference to ‘Eco-Sensitive Zones’, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Eco-Sensitive Zones are the areas that are declared under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. 2. The purpose of the declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones is to prohibit all kinds of human activities in those zones except agriculture. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(d) Neither 1 nor 2
The conceptual companion to this numeric question. UPSC tested the two things students most often get wrong about eco-sensitive zones — the governing law is the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and not the Wild Life (Protection) Act, and the zones regulate activity rather than prohibiting all of it.
Which of the following statements with regard to Biosphere Reserve is/are correct? 1. The idea of Biosphere Reserve was initiated by UNESCO in 1973-74 2. There are 18 designated Biosphere Reserves in India 3. All Biosphere Reserves in India have been included in world network of Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) 1 and 2 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(c) 1 and 2 only
The other zoning idea NDA likes to test. A biosphere reserve is built out of a core, a buffer and a transition zone, which is the same layered logic that an eco-sensitive zone applies to a national park or sanctuary.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Eco-sensitive zones in India are notified under which law?
- (a)Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972
- (b)Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
- (c)Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
- (d)Biological Diversity Act, 2002
Answer(b) Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 — notified by the environment ministry under Section 3(2)(v) with Rule 5(1) of the 1986 Rules.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Supreme Court's June 2022 direction on mandatory eco-sensitive zones was passed in which long-running case?
- (a)Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India
- (b)Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar
- (c)T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India
- (d)Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action v. Union of India
Answer(c) T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India — the continuing mandamus forest case begun in 1995.