What are Eco-Sensitive Zones? Discuss the process of their notification and the challenges in maintaining their integrity, with examples.

Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) are areas notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries to act as "shock absorbers" — transition belts from high protection to lower protection [1]. Though the term is absent from the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, they are notified under its Section 3(2)(v) power to restrict industries and processes in specified areas [1].

Notification process

• State proposal: the State government forwards a boundary proposal, guided by the MoEFCC's 2011 ESZ guidelines, which classify activities as prohibited, regulated or permitted [1].
• Draft notification by MoEFCC inviting public objections, followed by a final notification listing villages, geo-coordinates and maps [1].
• Zonal Master Plan (ZMP) to be prepared by the State within two years to regulate land use inside the zone [2].
• Prohibited activities include commercial mining, polluting industries and major hydel projects; farming, horticulture and dairying continue undisturbed [1].

Challenges to their integrity

• Dilution between draft and final stage: Bannerghatta National Park's 2016 draft ESZ of 268.96 sq. km. (buffer 100 m–4.5 km) was cut to about 169 sq. km. in the 2020 final notification after the State proposed a 1-km cap [3].
• Development pressure from state agencies: the Karnataka High Court in August 2026 quashed the Karnataka Housing Board's acquisition of 1,938 acres for the Suryanagar layout, holding it fell in the proposed ESZ and abutted elephant corridors [4].
• Weak enforcement and delayed ZMPs invite resorts, quarrying and construction just outside shrunken boundaries [3].
• Reliance on courts: the Supreme Court's oversight in the T.N. Godavarman line of orders (26 April 2023) extended the mining ban to one km around protected areas [5], while its Central Empowered Committee urged restoring Bannerghatta's 2016 boundary [3].

ESZs succeed only when ecological boundaries are drawn on science rather than on land demand. Timely Zonal Master Plans, transparent public consultation and corridor-based delineation, with local livelihoods protected, can make them genuine buffers — advancing Article 48A's mandate and SDG 15 on life on land.