PRIORITY AGENDA SUBMITTED BY THE MEMBERS
17 September 2007
The following should be considered on priority, before taking up any other agenda items:
PRIORITY ITEM No.1
It is the unanimous opinion of the independent Members of the National Board for Wildlife that the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 will have an adverse impact on wildlife and protected areas. It is therefore recommended that the Board should form a Sub-Committee to examine the extent of the adverse impacts on wildlife and Protected Areas and suggest remedial measures before the Rules under the said Act are notified.
PRIORITY ITEM No.2
The Board should have representation with at least three members on the Committee, which is presently reviewing or suggesting amendments to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. In any event, any future legislation (or amendments to existing laws) which may have an adverse impact on forests, wildlife and Protected Areas in particular, should only be done after examination and approval of the National Board for Wildlife.
PRIORITY ITEM No.3
CAMPA should be operationalised, and the funds lying in it should immediately be made available to State governments for the protection of habitat and wildlife, resettlement of villages from protected areas, and naturally-assisted regeneration. Recent reports of NABARD taking over CAMPA funds with a view to distributing them to people for afforestation work is contrary to the directions given in the judgment of the Supreme Court dated 26.9.2005 in the Forest Matter.
PRIORITY ITEM No.4
All the agenda items of the Standing Committee should be circulated to other non-official members of the Board for providing valuable inputs and to ensure full participation.
Signed by: Wildlife Protection Society of India, Reef Watch, Wildlife First, Bombay Natural History Society, World Wide Fund for Nature, Dr Divyabhanusinh Chavda, Valmik Thapar, Biswajit Mohanty, Dr Bibhab Talukdar, Shekar Dattatri, Mahendra Vyas, Brijendra Singh, Dilip Khatau, Dr MK Ranjithsinh.
