The alpine forests of Sikkim at 13000ft on the Indo-Bhutan border. Picture by Prabin Khaling

Gangtok, May 24: The Sikkim wildlife board has asked the forest department to convey to the Centre that its directive to declare zones around the national parks and sanctuaries eco-sensitive cannot be adhered to because of the mountainous terrain.

The Supreme Court had passed a directive on December 4, 2006, asking all states and Union territories to declare 10km as the crow flies around protected areas as eco-sensitive zones.

Following the apex court order, on May 7 this year A.K. Srivastava, the inspector-general of forests (wildlife) of the ministry of forests and environment, asked Sikkim to prepare detailed proposals on the eco-sensitive zones, indicating the areas on the map. The matter is likely to come up for hearing this month.

Sikkim has a total area of 7,096sqkm, of which 2,183sqkm make up the Kanchenjungha National Park and seven other wildlife sanctuaries. They comprise the protected zone which is around 31 per cent of the total geographical area of the state.

In a meeting here on May 20, state forest secretary S.T. Lachungpa and chief wildlife warden N.T. Bhutia had apprised the wildlife board of the problems the central directive was posing for the state.

The basic difficulties arose because of the mountainous region that had deep valleys and steep gradient, an official said in the meeting. “If the directive for notifying eco-sensitive zones within 10km of the protected areas is followed, major parts of the state will be covered under such zones, leaving the human population with limited space. The order could also see the territories of eco-sensitive zones crossing into the three international borders and also into the Bengal side.”

An official said the 10km areas put together came to 3,730sqkm which was 52.57 per cent of the total area of the state. “So, the total area under the protected zone and the eco-zones together bring up 83 per cent of the state, leaving hardly any place for human habitation.”

After the meeting, the board asked the department to convey the problems to the Centre accordingly.