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Why is a separate Island Protection Zone Notification, 2011 required?
There are about 500 islands in Andaman & Nicobar and about 30 in Lakshadweep.These two groups of oceanic islands are home to some of the country’s mostthriving biodiversity hotspots. The A&N Islands are known for their terrestrial andmarine biodiversity including forest area which covers 85% of the Andaman andNicobar geographical area, while, Lakshadweep is a coral island. The geo-graphicalareas of these islands are so small that in most of the cases the 500 metresCoastal Regulation Zone regulations overlap. Hence, a separate Notificationis being issued which takes into account the management of the entire island(except for four islands of A&N which include North Andaman, Middle Andaman,South Andaman and Great Nicobar).
The main objectives of the IPZ Notification, 2011are:
♤ To ensure livelihood security to the fishing communities, tribals and otherlocal communities living in the
coastal areas;
♤ To conserve and protect coastal stretches and;
♤ To promote development in a sustainable manner based on scientificprinciples, taking into account the dangers of natural hazards in the coastalareas and sea level rise due to global warming
Do you know?
The Centre has extended the relaxation of green norms in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in the country till December 2018. The central government had in May 2011 granted relaxations under section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, to help expedite the creation of public utility infrastructure in 60 LWE affected districts identified by the planning commission for implementation of the integrated Action Plan.