The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on December 17, 2021. Even though the Amendment Bill proposes several significant changes which will ensure better conservation and management of wildlife, the draft still holds space for improvement.
We are glad to share with you the recommendations submitted by Contego Humanitas Foundation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment and Forests, and Climae Change.
The following are the key recommendations made by us:
- Preparing two separate lists of invasive species, one attributing to the Inclusive Alien Species and the other specifying Invasive Native Species along with the ecosystems in which they are invasive.
- Constituting an advisory body consisting of National Biodiversity Authority, along with representatives from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture and State Wildlife Division. This would ensure that the identification and regulation of IAS is on a scientific basis, and occurs in a systematic and transparent manner.
- Empowering the State governments to notify any species as ‘invasive’ within their respective states
- Reconsidering the classification of the term ‘vermin’ given its derogatory context and given the situation where the committee decides the continuation of this terminology, clearly defining the basis of classifying a certain species as vermin and creating a schedule for the same.
- Including elephants under Section 43 to prevent their commercial trade and ensure proper notification and record-keeping of any interstate transfer of elephants in both jurisdictions from where and to which such a transfer takes place.
- Empowering the Management Authority to themselves appoint the officials for their assistance and ensuring record keeping of any special directions by the Central government along with a mandatory public disclosure of the same.
You can read our submission by clicking here.
Research Team: Mr. Aryan Bajpai, Ms. Bhavya Bahl, Mr. Bhavya Birla, Mr. Rishabh Bhandari and Mr. Rishi Raj Sharma.
Research Guides: Ms. Shruti Shreya and Mr. Pranav Bhaskar Tiwari.
Contego Humanitas Foundation 