Assam: Environmentalist Jadav Payeng warns against shrinking Kaziranga ESZ to 1 km

Guwahati: Environmentalist Jadav Payeng has urged Assam and the Centre to reconsider the proposed 1-km Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around Kaziranga, warning that a narrower protective buffer could leave wildlife with inadequate space to move during floods.

Payeng, widely known as the “Forest Man of India”, raised the concern in a video shared on social media, days after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that Assam would approach the Centre seeking a scientifically determined 1-km ESZ around Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.

Payeng said reducing the zone would create serious challenges for wildlife, particularly during the annual floods when animals leave Kaziranga in search of higher ground in the Karbi Anglong hills.

He questioned how displaced animals would find safe passage if development activities expand closer to the protected area.

“If work is done within a 10-km radius, right down to 1 km, the wildlife there will face many problems,” Payeng said, stressing that the ecological consequences of bringing human activity closer to the park need careful consideration.

Sarma, who first announced the proposal during his August 8 visit to Bokakhat, has maintained that the move should not be viewed simply as a “reduction”.

The Chief Minister has said the existing 10-km restriction is a default arrangement because Kaziranga’s ESZ has not yet received final notification, and that the state intends to submit a scientifically prepared proposal to the Centre within two months.

The legal position, however, makes the issue more complex. In its March 12, 2026, judgment, the Gauhati High Court recorded that no final ESZ notification or draft proposal for Kaziranga had been submitted by the Assam government to the Centre.

Consequently, the 10-km default ESZ continued to operate. The court also referred to the Supreme Court’s directions that where a wider ESZ has been proposed but awaits finalisation, that wider zone must continue pending a final decision.

The Supreme Court’s June 3, 2022, order prescribed a minimum 1-km ESZ around protected forests, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

However, the Court also provided for wider buffers where they had already been prescribed or proposed, while subsequent orders modified aspects of the original directions. The Union Environment Ministry has similarly explained that ESZ proposals are examined before final notifications are issued.

Payeng described Kaziranga as a “national treasure” whose ecological importance extends beyond Assam. He called for a long-term strategy to address human-wildlife conflict and safeguard the movement of animals beyond the park during extreme weather events.

“Nature’s ways are nature’s ways,” Payeng said, adding, “There is no power greater than nature.”

The issue has raised questions about administrative demarcation, development, legal protection and the ecological corridors used by Kaziranga’s wildlife.