Shillong (Meghalaya ), Jan 18 : The Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary in Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya has been adjudged as the best protected wildlife sanctuary in the Northeast, according to the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
Union Minister for Forest & environment Prakash Javadekar said that the state has fairly good management practices .
Altogether , 146 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries were judged during 2018 -19 by the MEE .
According to the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of Protected Areas (PAs), Nongkhyllem wildlife sanctuary rated best PA with 79.17 per cent in ‘Very Good’ category, followed by Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim which was also rated in ‘Very Good’ category with 77.50 per cent MEE score.
Pani-Dihing wildlife sanctuary, Assam was rated in ‘Poor’ category with least MEE score of31.66 per cent in North East region.
The MEE report stated that the fact that the management plan in respect of Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary has been in place from 2001 through 2022 shows that irrespective who’s posted, there is continuity.
The report also added that there are also prospects of increasing landscape continuity as efforts are on to increase protected areas from the vicinity, which are community forests.
In Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary, biotic interference in the park has been significantly reduced, zonation has been done in terms of core and buffer zones and it has a duly notified eco-sensitive zone, the report said .
The report stated that there was a need for the forest authorities to collaborate with local/regional research institutes to initiate research in key faunal species, especially in endangered species and standardizing frequency and periodicity of wildlife estimation will go a long way in looking at stability/viability of wildlife population.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has also launched the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Indian Zoos (MEE-ZOO) framework which proposes guidelines, criteria and indicators for evaluation of zoos of the country through Management Effectiveness Evaluation Process (MEE-ZOO) in a manner which is discrete, holistic and independent.
The assessment criteria and indicators look beyond the traditional concepts, include issues of animal welfare, husbandry and sustainability of resources and finance.
The MEE-ZOO exercise is moving towards developing highest standards in Zoos across India and adhering to core values of accountability, transparency, innovation, use of technology, collaboration and integrity to achieve the mandate of conservation of endangered species.
