Examine the legal and ecological rationale behind buffer zones around Ramsar sites in India, with reference to recent Supreme Court directions.

Q. Examine the legal and ecological rationale behind buffer zones around Ramsar sites in India, with reference to recent Supreme Court directions. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention, which obliges signatories to ensure their "wise use". Since a wetland's ecological health depends on activities beyond its notified boundary, buffer zones have emerged — largely through judicial direction rather than statute — as the operative safeguard.

Ecological rationale - Wetlands are open hydrological systems; mining and stone-crushing in the catchment cause siltation, altered flow regimes and turbidity that degrade the wetland even when the boundary is untouched. - Asan Conservation Reserve (444 ha), at the Asan–Yamuna confluence, became Uttarakhand's first Ramsar site on 21 July 2020 [1]; it supports migratory waterbird congregations and 49 fish species, including the endangered Putitor mahseer [4]. - Enforcement gaps are real — a Survey of India assessment found 43 mining leases and 26 stone crushers inside Asan's buffer [5]. - Buffers operationalise the precautionary principle, since wetland damage is often irreversible.

Legal rationale - Asan was declared a Conservation Reserve under Section 36A, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 [6]; the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 regulate the wetland and its zone of influence [3]. - Unlike national parks and sanctuaries, wetlands have no statutory eco-sensitive-zone buffer, so courts have filled the vacuum, drawing on Articles 21, 48A and 51A(g). - Judicial buffers regulate rather than prohibit: the Supreme Court (14 February 2024) softened the Uttarakhand High Court's 2015 absolute ban into a 10-km conditional regime requiring NBWL Standing Committee and MoEFCC clearance [5]. - In August 2026, invoking parity, the Court indicated this framework applies to all wetland/community conservation reserves nationally, the sole exception being an expert-committee finding that no such reserve exists in that State [5].

Buffer zones thus convert an international commitment into an enforceable domestic standard. The durable solution is to codify site-specific buffers under the 2017 Rules after completing wetland delineation, so that protection rests on scientific mapping rather than litigation — advancing India's Ramsar obligations and SDG 6.6 and 15.1.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. Asan Conservation Reserve: First Ramsar Site of Uttarakhand, MoEFCC-hosted document — 444 ha area, Asan–Yamuna confluence, 21 July 2020 Ramsar designation 2. Ramsar Sites of India (as on 21.04.2026), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change — official Ramsar designation list and dates 3. Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 and implementation guidelines, MoEFCC — regulatory regime for wetlands and their zone of influence 4. Asan Conservation Reserve, Ramsar Sites Information Service (Ramsar Convention Secretariat) — migratory waterbird and fish diversity, including Putitor mahseer 5. Supreme Court order dated 14 February 2024 in the Asan Wetland Conservation Reserve matter, and subsequent 2026 directions on wetland/community conservation reserves (no official copy reachable; cited title-only) — 10-km conditional mining regime, NBWL/MoEFCC clearance, Survey of India findings, parity-based national extension 6. The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 — Section 36A, India Code — statutory basis for declaring conservation reserves