(a) whether the Government has made any evaluation/assessment of the Bio-diversity Laws of the country in the recent years;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the details of the steps taken by the Government for preservation of Bio-diversity of the country?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)
(a) & (b): No, Sir. However, this Ministry constituted a High Level Committee under the chairmanship of Shri T.S.R. Subramanian, former Cabinet Secretary on 29th August, 2014, to review six Acts administered by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Three of these Acts are relevant to biodiversity, viz., Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and The Indian Forests Act, 1927. The Committee submitted its report in November, 2014. The Committee has made fifty five recommendations. The Report of the Committee is in the public domain.
(c) Some important steps taken by the Government for conservation of biological diversity inter alia include: survey and inventorisation of floral and faunal resources; assessment of the forest cover to develop an accurate database for planning and monitoring; establishment of a Protected Area Network of National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation and Community Reserves; designating Biosphere Reserves for conservation of representative ecosystems; undertaking of species oriented programmes, such as Project Tiger and Project Elephant; complemented with ex-situ conservation efforts. In addition, Biological Diversity Act 2002 has also been enacted with the aim to conserve biological resources of the country and regulation of access to these resources to ensure equitable sharing of benefits arising out of their use, under which a National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards have been set up for implementing the provisions of the Act.
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