Why the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 implemented?

Wildlife Protection Act implemented due to following reason

• India is a treasure-trove of varied flora and fauna. Many species were seeing a rapid decline in numbers. For instance, it was mentioned by Edward Pritchard Gee (A naturalist), that at the turn of the 20th century, India was home to close to 40000 tigers. But, a census in 1972 showed this number drastically reduced to about 1827.
• A drastic decrease in the flora and fauna can cause ecological imbalance, which affects many aspects of climate and the ecosystem.
• The most recent Act passed during the British era in this regard was the Wild Birds and Animals Protection, 1935. This needed to be upgraded as the punishments awarded to poachers and traders of wildlife products were disproportionate to the huge financial benefits that accrue to them.
• There were only five national parks in India before the enactment of this Act. 

• Sanctuaries: “Sanctuary is a place of refuge where injured, abandoned, and abused wildlife is allowed to live in peace in their natural environment without any human intervention.”
• National Parks: “National Parks are the areas that are set by the government to conserve the natural environment.”
• Conservation Reserves: The State government may declare an area (particularly those adjacent to sanctuaries or parks) as conservation reserves after consulting with local communities.
• Community Reserves: The State government may declare any private or community land as a community reserve after consultation with the local community or an individual who has volunteered to conserve the wildlife.
• Tiger Reserves: These areas are reserved for the protection and conservation of tigers in India. They are declared on the recommendations of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

When the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 implemented?

Wildlife(Protection) Act was implemented in 1972 which provide provisions for the conservation of wild animals, birds, and plant species, to ensure environmental and ecological security. Wildlife is the part of the forest which cover under the Concurrent List subject. There are many provisions under this Act, some of them are:

• Need to the formation of wildlife advisory boards, wildlife wardens, specifies their powers and duties, etc.
• By this act India became the part of CITES(Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)
• It also prohibited the hunting of endangered species.
• It also provides for the establishment of wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, etc.
• Act created six schedules which gave varying degrees of protection to classes of flora and fauna.
• Scheduled animals are prohibited from being traded as per the Act’s provisions.
• The Act provides for licenses for the sale, transfer, and possession of some wildlife species.
• The Act also provided for the establishment of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

There are some Constitutional Provisions also for the Wildlife Act

• Under the Directive Principle of State Policy part 4 of the Constitution Article, 48A states that "India directs the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard wildlife and forests."
• This article was added to the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment in 1976.
• And Article 51A of the Fundamental Duties states that "imposes certain fundamental duties for the people of India.
  
• One of them is to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures."

Where Leopard mostly found?

Leopard categorizes in the big cat or lion or jaguar category which mostly found in sub-Saharan Africa, northeast Africa, Central Asia, India, and China. The scientific name is Panthera pardus and also called as Panther or Cheetah. It comes under the vulnerable category of IUCN. They live in a wide variety of habitats including forests, mountains, deserts and grasslands. And by a recent report, in India, they are mostly found in Madhya Pradesh (3,421) followed by Karnataka (1,783) and Maharashtra (1,690). In India, there are five best places where you can see the large number Leopard:

• Jawai Leopard Reserve – Pali, Rajasthan
• Jhalana Leopard Safari Park – Jaipur, Rajasthan
• Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary – Rajsamand, Rajasthan
• Satpura National Park – Madhya Pradesh
• Bandipur National Park – Karnataka

A recent report says that there is a 60% increase in the leopard population. The leopards are the largest predators of its ecosystem and they play an important role in maintaining the health of the environment. They keep control over the population of herbivores and remove the unhealthy animals from its habitat. The balanced population of wild herbivores is critical to the health of the forest as they can easily overgraze, which can affect forest regeneration and growth. This in turn keeps diseases from spreading and maintains a population of fit and healthy wild animals.

It included in Appendix I of CITES which is Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Appendices I, II and III which are lists of species afforded different levels or types of protection from over-exploitation. Appendix I lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants. Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled. Appendix III is a list of species included at the request of a Party that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation.

Who assesses and compiles the list of IUCN?

The Swiss-based IUCN (the International Union for Conservation of Nature) is responsible for producing the Red List, but on a day-to-day basis it is managed and compiled by the Global Species Programme Red List Unit, based in Cambridge, which draws on information from 16,000 scientists and 1,300 partner organisations in almost every country in the world.

Each species is rigorously evaluated, using specified and quantifiable criteria (such as population size, rate of population decline and geographic range) with input from BirdLife International, the IUCN Species Survival Commission and many other members of the Red List partnership. Once the assessment has been independently checked for accuracy, the species is placed into one of eight official categories.

How the IUCN red list is useful for the environment?

It is extremely useful for our environment as follows

• It is used as a guide to determine the annexes of some important agreements like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
• It is the biodiversity indicator used by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to regulate progress towards accomplishing the targets set out in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
• It is used to measure betterment towards the performance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 15.
• It also contributes to the process of Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to enhance the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services to boost decision making.
• It highlights the highest risk of extinction facing by the species and alerts the world to take action against the extinction.
• It also spread awareness among students, environmentalists and the world about environmental health and prosperity.
• Information on The IUCN Red List contributes to human health and livelihoods. Red List data are often used by researchers in the health sector investigating the distributions of species that are known or suspected vectors of human and domestic animal diseases.
• Its assessments of freshwater species have also contributed to the work of the Ramsar Convention in selecting sites that are important for freshwater biodiversity.
• This list is the perfect example of how scientific knowledge can help practitioners and policy-makers alike and can lead the way to halt biodiversity loss.