Assam CM defends move to reduce Kaziranga Eco-Sensitive Zone to 1 km from the default 10 km
The Assam government announced plans to approach the Centre with a proposal to reduce the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around Kaziranga National Park from the default 10 km to 1 km.
Kaziranga currently does not have a final ESZ notification, so the default 10-km buffer applies around its boundary, restricting construction and infrastructure activity in surrounding areas.
The state government cited the impact of the 10-km buffer on populated areas and civic projects, including plans for infrastructure near Bokakhat, as the rationale for the proposed reduction.
Conservationists have flagged concerns that the surrounding forests, grasslands, wetlands and corridors are used by wildlife, particularly during monsoon flooding, when animals move to higher ground outside the park boundary.
Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ) — Legal and Policy Framework
Eco-Sensitive Zones are buffer areas notified around Protected Areas (National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries) under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to regulate activities that could adversely affect wildlife and habitat. They are not additional protected areas but "shock absorbers" that reduce the impact of high-intensity human activity on the core protected area.
Key Details
- Statutory basis: Section 3(2)(v) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, read with the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.
- The Supreme Court, in Goa Foundation v. Union of India (2004–2006), directed that where a state has not submitted a site-specific ESZ proposal, a default 10-km zone around the boundary of a National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary applies (interim order, 4 August 2006).
- MoEFCC's 2011 ESZ Guidelines state that the zone is meant to be site-specific, with width extending up to a maximum of 10 km, not a fixed uniform figure.
- Final ESZ notification requires a state government proposal, examination by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and MoEFCC, and Gazette notification — until this is completed, the default 10-km rule continues to apply.
Kaziranga has no final ESZ notification, so the 10-km default is presently in force. Assam's proposal would formally fix the zone at the legal floor of 1 km rather than leave it at the unnotified 10-km default.
Supreme Court's Minimum 1-km ESZ Mandate — In Re: T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India
In this 2022 order, the Supreme Court held that every Protected Area must have a minimum ESZ of 1 km measured from its demarcated boundary, and that no permanent structures may come up within this zone. Where a wider ESZ is already prescribed, the wider margin prevails over the 1-km floor.
Key Details
- Order dated 3 June 2022 in the pending T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad forest case (originating W.P. (C) No. 202/1995).
- Established 1 km as a mandatory minimum, not a ceiling — it does not, by itself, prohibit a state from proposing an ESZ wider than 1 km.
- On 26 April 2023, a three-judge bench modified this uniform mandate after finding a blanket 1-km rule "impossible to implement" in all cases, allowing site-specific variation based on local conditions.
- Ban on new permanent structures within a notified ESZ remains a core protective feature.
Assam's proposal to reduce Kaziranga's ESZ to 1 km sits exactly at the Supreme Court's mandated statutory floor — the minimum permissible under current law — rather than below it, which is the legal basis on which the state defends the move.
Kaziranga National Park — Protected Area Profile
Kaziranga is a National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam, straddling the Brahmaputra River floodplain, and is best known for hosting the world's largest population of the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros.
Key Details
- Notified area: approximately 430 sq km (core), spread across Golaghat, Nagaon and Sonitpur districts of Assam.
- Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 under natural heritage criteria for its exceptional wildlife habitat.
- Declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006 under Project Tiger, administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) — governed by Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 provisions on tiger reserves (core-buffer strategy).
- The Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros (IUCN status: Vulnerable) population in Kaziranga stood at 2,613 in the 2022 census — around two-thirds of the global wild population of the species.
The scale of Kaziranga's global conservation significance is central to why any change to its buffer zone draws scrutiny — the surrounding land functions as seasonal flood-refuge habitat for rhinos, elephants, tigers and swamp deer.
- Default ESZ (no state proposal): 10 km, per Supreme Court order dated 4 August 2006 in Goa Foundation v. Union of India.
- Supreme Court-mandated minimum ESZ for all Protected Areas: 1 km, per In Re: T.N. Godavarman (3 June 2022), later modified 26 April 2023.
- Kaziranga UNESCO World Heritage inscription: 1985.
- Kaziranga declared Tiger Reserve: 2006 (notification dated 5 August 2006).
- Kaziranga core area: approximately 430 sq km.
- 2022 rhino census: 2,613 Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros in Kaziranga, ~66% of the global wild population.
- Governing statute for ESZ notification: Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.