Natural communities, little affected by man’s activities, are through to be worth preserving for a variety of reasons. By declaring some areas as national parks or wildlife sanctuaries, the natural community along with its ecosystem is preserved. Let us first define national parks, sanctuaries and reserves.
A national park is an area dedicated to conserve the environment, natural and historical objects and to conserve the wildlife therein, at the same time, to provide for enjoyment from them, in such a manner and by such means, as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.
In national parks, all private rights are non-existent and all forestry operations and other usages such as grazing of domestic animals are prohibited.
In a wildlife sanctuary, killing, hunting, shooting or capturing of any species of birds and mammals is prohibited except by or under the control of the highest authority in the department responsible for management of the sanctuary.
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Private ownership rights may be allowed to continue in a sanctuary and forestry and other usages permitted to the extent that they do not adversely affect wildlife.
Any area where special protection is offered to wildlife is declared a protected area. Such as:
a) River valley projects and other irrigational works that attract water birds and other wildlife.
b) An area where protection is offered to wildlife in or around large towns of sacred places.
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Reserves are areas demarcated especially for the protection of wildlife.
Advantages of Protected Areas
There are much scientific benefits to be derived by studying the ecosystem in a protected area particularly the functioning of the biosphere. From studies of undisturbed ecosystem, much can be learnt about the behavior of these systems. Only with such a control can man gauge how much damaged he has caused to his environment.
Furthermore, more or less undisturbed communities are important to the continued operation of the systems that man has created. Thus, watershed forests are protected estuaries guarantee continued production of marine life important to man for food and other purpose. Outdoor activities in a natural setting or contact with plants and animals in a wild state appear to be important to man’s psychological well being. So, protected areas are of aesthetic and recreational values too.
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By declaring certain areas as protected, the laws to regulate that protection should apply automatically. It becomes easier to monitor the population of the species living in the area, prevent poaching and also avoid exploitation of the area into consideration by excessive tree felling or overgrazing.
Acts to Protect Wildlife:
Realizing the importance of the wildlife resources and to prevent gene erosion, our country has from time to time taken steps by way of enactment of various wildlife Acts. As a result of worldwide concern, the International Union for Conservation of National Resources (IUCN) was formed, as also its appendage, the Survival Service Commission, which sought to supply up-to-date information about every species of animal in danger of extinction. The World Wildlife Fund now called World Wide Fund of Nature (WWF), affiliated to IUCN, is also closely concerned with conservation problems.