Article:
The Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) recently disclosed the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of 146 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across India. From 2021, an annual ranking will acknowledge the top performing ten national parks, five coastal and marine parks, and five zoos.
Understanding Management Effectiveness Evaluation
The MEE of Protected Areas is a notable instrument, used by governments and international organisations to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of protected area management systems. The assessment process adopts the IUCN WCPA (World Commission on Protected Areas) MEE framework.
MEE mainly evaluates how well the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries are managed, especially whether they are protecting their resources and achieving the agreed goals and objectives. They are rated in four categories – Poor, Fair, Good, and Very Good.
The MoEF&CC, in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), has developed a new framework for the MEE of Marine Protected Areas. Additionally, the MoEF&CC launched the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Indian Zoos (MEE-ZOO) that proposes guidelines and indicators for zoo evaluation.
Protected Regions in India
India has an extensive network of 903 protected areas, covering about 5% of its total geographical area. The categories under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 classify these protected areas as National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves.
Insights from the Recent MEE
The latest MEE findings report an encouraging overall mean MEE score of 62.01%, higher than the global mean of 56%. Geographically, the eastern region achieved the highest overall mean MEE score of 66.12%, while the northern region recorded the lowest at 56%.
Performance of Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Park
The survey recognised Tirthan Wildlife Sanctuary and Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh as the best performing among the 146 evaluated protected areas. Conversely, the Turtle Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh scored the lowest.
Classifications of Protected Areas
Protected areas are categorised as Sanctuaries, National Parks, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves. Sanctuaries aim to protect wildlife and their environment, granting certain rights to the residents. The objective of National Parks mirrors that of sanctuaries, but they prohibit all rights and disallow livestock grazing.
Conservation Reserves are declared by state governments in government-owned areas, especially those neighbouring national parks and sanctuaries. They aim to conserve landscapes, seascapes, flora, fauna and their habitats without affecting the rights of local communities.
On privately owned or community lands, the state government can declare Community Reserves to preserve wildlife and its habitat. Like Conservation Reserves, the declaration of Community Reserves does not impact the rights of the residents.
