In a memorandum submitted to the high-level committee of MoEFCC which visited the State last week, the organisation suggested that the authority must be established through an amendment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and vested with administrative and legal powers to ensure elephant conservation in the country.

Since ‘Elephant Reserve’ is defined under the Wildlife Protection Act, it must include the concepts of core and buffer zones as well as voluntary relocation and Elephant Conservation Foundation.

With wildlife corridors becoming a casualty due to an increase in the growth of infrastructure and development projects, Wild Orissa said it is important to consider landscape-level conservation initiatives where focus is on corridor maintenance and restoration.

Wild Orissa has proposed that it is important that corridors or wildlife movement habitats are given statutory cover under the Wildlife Protection Act by incorporating appropriate provisions. Certain beneficial provisions incorporated in the 2006 amendments, including voluntary relocations and core, should also be extended to such corridors.

Since Chapter IV-B under Wildlife Protection Act, inserted in 2006, provides for voluntary relocation of human settlements from within the Tiger Reserve, similar provisions for voluntary relocation for human settlements from within wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, conservation reserves be introduced where the relocated persons are compensated under the National Relief and Rehabilitation Policy at enhanced rates.

The NGO also suggested that the Wildlife (Amendment) Protection Bill - 2013 , which has been introduced in the Parliament be taken up for legislation.

On behalf of Wild Orissa, Kulamani Deo and Akash Ranjan Rath participated in the deliberations.