The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) has dubbed as unfortunate the Supreme Court directive that national parks and wildlife sanctuaries must have Eco Sensitive Zones (ESZ) of minimum one km from the demarcated boundary of a protected forest.
The verdict will turn the life of settler farmers and people living on the forest fringes nightmarish. It will effectively turn four lakh acres around the 24 wildlife sanctuaries in the State into buffer zones, leaving about 1.50 lakh affected families in the lurch.
The stringent enforcement of rules in the buffer zones will force the affected farmers to leave without any compensation. The KCBC said the verdict reflects the failure of the government in convincing the court the demands being made by farmers over the past more than a decade.
Conservation of the environment has always been the declared policy of the Church. However, it is not fair to put the burden of conservation on the people living along the fringes of the forests alone.
The government should intervene immediately to allay the apprehensions of the affected farmers in the buffer zones. The KCBC urged both the Central and State governments to put up a united front for resolving the crisis.
The KCBC also expressed its apprehensions over what it perceived as the increasing attacks against Christians across the globe. Over 6,000 Christians have been massacred in Nigeria alone since last year. The silence and indifference displayed by the media in the State towards such incidents is saddening.
The KCBC observed that the increase in incidents in Kerala glorifying religious extremism is a mater of concern. It urged the government to take strict action against religious extremism without any other considerations.
