2.12 Climate Change, SDGs, National Parks & Wildlife Sanctuaries
Key Takeaways
- The Sustainable Development Goals comprise 17 goals and 169 targets adopted by the United Nations in 2015 under the 2030 Agenda.
- India's protected area network comprises 106 national parks, 573 wildlife sanctuaries, 115 conservation reserves and 220 community reserves, together covering about 5.3 percent of the country's geographical area.
- A national park enjoys stricter statutory protection than a wildlife sanctuary, and both are declared under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- The UNFCCC framework produced the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Paris Agreement in 2015, the latter aiming to hold warming well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The Sustainable Development Goals
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, sets out 17 Goals and 169 targets. They succeeded the Millennium Development Goals, which ran to 2015 and numbered eight.
The goals most relevant to a coal-sector career:
| Goal | Title |
|---|---|
| SDG 7 | Affordable and Clean Energy |
| SDG 8 | Decent Work and Economic Growth |
| SDG 9 | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure |
| SDG 11 | Sustainable Cities and Communities |
| SDG 12 | Responsible Consumption and Production |
| SDG 13 | Climate Action |
| SDG 15 | Life on Land |
In India, NITI Aayog is the nodal body for SDG monitoring and publishes the SDG India Index, which scores states and union territories on their progress.
The Climate Change Architecture
| Instrument | Year | Substance |
|---|---|---|
| UNFCCC | 1992, Rio Earth Summit | Parent convention; principle of common but differentiated responsibilities |
| Kyoto Protocol | 1997 | Binding emission targets for developed countries; introduced carbon trading and the Clean Development Mechanism |
| Paris Agreement | 2015, COP21 | Holds the rise in global average temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees; operates through Nationally Determined Contributions |
| Glasgow COP26 | 2021 | India announced the Panchamrit commitments |
Other environmental conventions worth recognising: the Montreal Protocol (1987) on ozone-depleting substances; the Ramsar Convention (1971) on wetlands of international importance; the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992); the Basel Convention on transboundary movement of hazardous waste; and CITES on trade in endangered species.
India's climate commitments
India's updated Nationally Determined Contribution targets a 45% reduction in the emissions intensity of GDP by 2030 against the 2005 level, and 50% of cumulative installed electric power capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030. Long-term net zero is set for 2070.
For the coal sector specifically, the response has focused on efficiency and abatement rather than abandonment: supercritical and ultra-supercritical boilers, coal gasification, mine-methane capture, large-scale plantation and eco-restoration on overburden dumps, and solar deployment on reclaimed mined land. Coal India has itself set out renewable energy and afforestation programmes alongside its production targets.
Indian Environmental Statutes
| Statute | Year | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Wild Life (Protection) Act | 1972 | National parks, sanctuaries, scheduled species |
| Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act | 1974 | Water pollution; created the pollution control boards |
| Forest (Conservation) Act | 1980 | Restricts diversion of forest land for non-forest use |
| Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act | 1981 | Air quality |
| Environment (Protection) Act | 1986 | Umbrella legislation enacted after the Bhopal disaster |
| Biological Diversity Act | 2002 | Access and benefit sharing |
| National Green Tribunal Act | 2010 | Specialised environmental adjudication |
Mining projects require environmental clearance under the Environment Impact Assessment notification and, where forest land is involved, forest clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act. Both are administered by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Protected Areas of India
The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 establishes four categories of protected area. India's network, as recorded in the National Wildlife Database, comprises:
| Category | Number |
|---|---|
| National Parks | 106 |
| Wildlife Sanctuaries | 573 |
| Conservation Reserves | 115 |
| Community Reserves | 220 |
| Total protected areas | 1,014 |
Together these cover roughly 5.3% of India's geographical area.
National park versus wildlife sanctuary
This distinction is the single most examinable point in the topic.
| Feature | National Park | Wildlife Sanctuary |
|---|---|---|
| Protection level | Stricter | Somewhat more permissive |
| Boundaries | Fixed and notified | May be less rigidly defined |
| Human activity | Grazing and private tenurial rights generally not allowed | Certain regulated activities may be permitted |
| Purpose | Protection of the whole ecosystem | Protection of particular species or habitats |
A sanctuary may be upgraded to a national park, but not the reverse.
Other designations
- Biosphere Reserves: 18 in India, organised into a strictly protected core zone, a buffer zone, and a transition zone. Nilgiri was the first, notified in 1986.
- Tiger Reserves: 58, administered under Project Tiger (launched 1973) through the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
- Elephant Reserves under Project Elephant (1992).
- Ramsar sites: wetlands of international importance; Chilika in Odisha and Keoladeo in Rajasthan are among the best known.
- Biodiversity hotspots in India: the Himalaya, the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, the Indo-Burma region, and Sundaland covering the Nicobar Islands.
Frequently asked parks
| Park | State | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Jim Corbett | Uttarakhand | India's oldest national park, established 1936; tiger |
| Kaziranga | Assam | One-horned rhinoceros; UNESCO site |
| Gir | Gujarat | Only wild population of the Asiatic lion |
| Sundarbans | West Bengal | Largest mangrove forest; Royal Bengal tiger |
| Kanha, Bandhavgarh | Madhya Pradesh | Tiger; Madhya Pradesh has among the most tiger reserves |
| Periyar | Kerala | Elephant and tiger |
| Ranthambore | Rajasthan | Tiger |
| Keoladeo (Bharatpur) | Rajasthan | Bird sanctuary; Ramsar and UNESCO site |
| Simlipal | Odisha | Tiger reserve and biosphere reserve |
| Hazaribagh | Jharkhand | Wildlife sanctuary in the coal-belt state |
Several protected areas lie close to coalfields, which is precisely why forest clearance, wildlife clearance and eco-restoration obligations are a routine part of mine planning at Coal India — connecting this bullet directly to the coal-sector-awareness bullet of the same syllabus.
The Sustainable Development Goals adopted under the 2030 Agenda number:
Which statement correctly distinguishes a national park from a wildlife sanctuary in India?
The Paris Agreement of 2015 aims to hold the increase in global average temperature to:
Project Tiger, launched in 1973 and now administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, covers how many tiger reserves?