The State Forest and Environment Department has nominated environmentalist and Orissa Environmental Society (OES) secretary Dr Jayakrushna Panigrahi as an expert member in the field of ecology and environment of the Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary.
This is in compliance with a 2016 notification of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which provides guidelines for declaring eco-sensitive zones around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries to create some kind of ‘shock absorbers’ for the protected areas.
Along him, Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Wildlife Trust of India, Bhubaneswar has also been nominated to the Eco-Sensitive Zone Monitoring Committee.
Panigrahi’s name has also found a place in the recently-constituted Taskforce for Forest Fire and the Advisory Committee of the Chandaka-Dampara Sanctuary.
