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The Supreme Court has clarified that its 10-km mining restriction around the Asan Wetland Conservation Reserve applies to wetland conservation reserves across the country, not just to that one site.
The restriction traces back to an interim order of 14 February 2024, which barred mining within 10 km of the Asan reserve without prior clearance.
Any mining project inside the buffer must first obtain permission from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife and the Environment Ministry.
The Court simultaneously directed the Centre and the National Board for Wildlife to first verify whether wetland conservation reserves actually exist in Himachal Pradesh before the buffer is enforced there.
The Asan Conservation Reserve lies at the confluence of the Asan and Yamuna rivers in Uttarakhand and was designated a Ramsar site in 2020.
India's protected areas are not a single category. National parks and wildlife sanctuaries are the strictest, and around them the Supreme Court has long enforced eco-sensitive zone restrictions. Conservation reserves are a newer and lighter category, created by the 2002 amendment to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, and typically declared over government-owned land that buffers an existing protected area or links two of them. Crucially, they are managed with the participation of local communities through a conservation reserve management committee, which is why they suit landscapes such as wetlands where people live and farm alongside the habitat. The significance of this ruling is that it imports a protective buffer — familiar from national parks and sanctuaries — into this lighter category, on the reasoning that a wetland's ecological function extends well beyond its notified boundary. Groundwater draw, silt and blasting vibration from mining travel far, so protecting only the water body itself protects very little.
Simple Analogy: Fencing a pond but allowing digging right up to the fence is pointless — what happens on the bank decides what survives in the water.
Provides the protected-area categories; the 2002 amendment introduced conservation reserves and community reserves alongside national parks and sanctuaries.
The apex advisory body on wildlife, chaired ex-officio by the Prime Minister; its Standing Committee must clear projects in and around protected areas, and is the authority whose permission the Court has made mandatory inside the buffer.
The intergovernmental treaty signed at Ramsar in Iran under which sites of international importance are designated; India became a party in 1982, and the Court gave weight to Asan's Ramsar status when framing the original order.
The order that first imposed the 10-km mining restriction around the Asan Wetland Conservation Reserve, now clarified to apply to all such reserves.
The Asan Conservation Reserve sits in the Doon Valley of Uttarakhand where the Asan river joins the Yamuna, a little west of Dehradun and close to the Himachal Pradesh border. Its position on the Central Asian Flyway makes it a wintering ground for migratory waterbirds, which is the basis of its Ramsar listing. The Himachal Pradesh direction in this order matters precisely because the state lies immediately upstream and adjacent to this stretch.
GS Paper 3 > Environment, Conservation and Biodiversity; GS Paper 2 > Role of the Judiciary
General Awareness > Environment > Protected Areas of India
General Awareness > Current Affairs > Environment
With reference to a conservation organization called 'Wetlands International', which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. It is an intergovernmental organization formed by the countries which are signatories to Ramsar Convention. 2. It works at the field level to develop and mobilize knowledge, and use the practical experience to advocate for better policies. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer: 2 only
The term 'M-STrIPES' is sometimes seen in the news in the context of
Answer: Maintenance of Tiger Reserves
Recently there was a proposal to translocate some of the lions from their natural habitat in Gujarat to which one of the following sites?
Answer: Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary
Consider the following pairs: Wildlife : Naturally found in 1. Blue-finned Mahseer : Cauvery River 2. Irrawaddy Dolphin : Chambal River 3. Rusty-spotted Cat : Eastern Ghats Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Answer: 1 and 3 only
Consider the following statements: 1. Under Ramsar Convention, it is mandatory on the part of the Government of India to protect and conserve all the wetlands in the territory of India. 2. The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010 were framed by the Government of India based on the recommendations of Ramsar Convention. 3. The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010 also encompass the drainage area or catchment regions of the wetlands as determined by the authority. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 2 and 3 only
A protected-area category introduced by the 2002 amendment to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, usually declared over government land adjoining or linking protected areas and managed with local community participation.
The committee that examines and clears proposals for projects inside or near protected areas; the National Board for Wildlife itself is chaired by the Prime Minister.
A wetland designated as being of international importance under the Ramsar Convention of 1971; India became a contracting party in 1982.
One of the world's major migratory bird routes, spanning Arctic Russia to the Indian Ocean and passing over northern India.