Centre may notify eco-sensitive areas of Western Ghats

New Delhi: The Centre might adopt an incremental approach and notify eco-sensitive areas of the Western Ghats on a state-by-state basis, sources said on Monday.

The government might adopt this approach as declaring the entire region an eco-sensitive area (ESA) at once might not be feasible, the sources said.

The Union Environment Ministry has issued six draft notifications since March 2014 to declare over 56,825.7 square kilometres of the Western Ghats across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as eco-sensitive.

However, the final notification is still pending due to objections from the states.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday said an expert panel, established in April 2022 under former Director General of Forests Sanjay Kumar, is working closely with the states to find a resolution.

After stakeholder discussions, the panel realised that declaring the

entire region as an ESA all at once might not be feasible. It will be more effective if done separately for each state gradually, the sources said.

Dense human habitations have developed in some places, leading to law and order situations.

Therefore, the Centre will continue consultations with the states and notify areas where consensus has been achieved, they said.

The fresh notification came just a day after a series of landslides claimed over 300 lives in Kerala’s Wayanad.

Scientists from the state and beyond attributed the disaster to a deadly mix of forest cover loss, mining in the fragile terrain and climate change.