Centre reissues notification on Western Ghats eco-sensitive zone amid deadlock with States
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change reissued a draft notification proposing an Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA) along the Western Ghats, opening a fresh window for objections and suggestions from the public and state governments.
The draft proposes classifying roughly 56,800 sq km of the Western Ghats across six states — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — as an ESA.
The notification is the latest in a series of drafts reissued periodically since the first one in 2014, with earlier versions (2015, 2017, 2022, 2024, and others) repeatedly lapsing without being finalised amid unresolved differences between the Centre and the states.
States remain divided on the boundaries: some have broadly accepted the proposed area, while others continue to seek reductions in the villages and regions covered, citing concerns over the impact on farming, infrastructure and other development activities.
Under the draft, fresh mining, quarrying and sand extraction would be barred within the notified ESA, and existing mining operations would need to cease on lease expiry or within a fixed period after final notification, whichever comes first.
Gadgil Committee (2011) vs Kasturirangan Committee (2013)
The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (Gadgil Committee) and the High-Level Working Group (Kasturirangan Committee) are the two foundational reports behind the ESA proposal, and UPSC frequently tests the differences between them.
Key Details
- Gadgil Committee (chaired by Madhav Gadgil): submitted its report on 31 January 2011; recommended the entire Western Ghats be treated as an ESA, divided into ESZ-1, ESZ-2 and ESZ-3 zones with graded restrictions, governed bottom-up through gram sabhas, and proposed a statutory Western Ghats Ecology Authority under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
- Kasturirangan Committee (a high-level working group set up to review the Gadgil report): submitted its report on 15 April 2013; recommended a smaller ESA of about 59,940 sq km — roughly 37% of the total Western Ghats area of about 1.64 lakh sq km, spread across 11 districts — with a more top-down, boundary-based approach rather than zone-wise gram sabha governance
- The current draft notifications (proposing ~56,800 sq km) are based on the Kasturirangan approach, not the more restrictive Gadgil recommendations
The reissued 2026 notification is a direct descendant of the Kasturirangan report's boundary-mapping exercise; the persistent Centre-State deadlock stems partly from states preferring even less area than Kasturirangan recommended, while the Gadgil report's stricter zonal approach was set aside early in the process.
Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA) — Legal Basis
An Eco-Sensitive Area is a buffer/regulatory zone notified by the Centre where specified developmental and industrial activities are restricted or prohibited to protect ecologically fragile regions, distinct from Protected Areas under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Key Details
- Notified under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which empowers the Central Government to issue binding directions restricting or prohibiting industries, operations or processes
- Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 lists the factors the Centre must consider before restricting activities in an area, including biological diversity, proximity to protected areas, and land-use patterns
- ESAs are distinct from Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) around National Parks/Wildlife Sanctuaries, which are typically notified within a 10 km buffer under separate guidelines
- The Western Ghats ESA notification process has been draft-stage only for over a decade; it has never been finalised
The 2026 notification remains a draft, meaning it carries no binding legal force yet — it only opens a further round of objections, continuing the pattern since 2014 of the notification never crossing the finalisation stage.
Forests in the Concurrent List — Centre-State Federalism
The tussle over the Western Ghats notification illustrates the federal dynamics of environmental regulation, since forests are a shared (Concurrent List) subject rather than an exclusively central or state one.
Key Details
- The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 moved "Forests" (Entry 17A) and "Protection of wild animals and birds" (Entry 17B) from the State List to the Concurrent List (List III), giving both Parliament and state legislatures power to legislate
- Article 48A (Directive Principle, added by the same amendment) directs the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife
- Article 51A(g) imposes a corresponding Fundamental Duty on citizens to protect the natural environment
- Because forests are a Concurrent List subject, the Centre can notify ESAs, but implementation (land records, local livelihoods, infrastructure clearances) rests with state machinery — a structural reason such notifications require sustained Centre-State consensus
The unresolved deadlock over village-level inclusion/exclusion reflects this concurrent arrangement — the Centre can issue the notification, but cannot enforce it effectively without state cooperation on ground-level implementation.
Western Ghats as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2012)
Separate from the ESA notification, parts of the Western Ghats already carry international natural heritage recognition, which is a frequently tested overlap.
Key Details
- Inscribed as a UNESCO (natural) World Heritage Site in 2012 as a serial site of 39 protected areas across seven clusters spanning about 1,600 km from Maharashtra to Kerala/Tamil Nadu
- Recognised as one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity, sheltering over 325 globally threatened species, including at least 51 critically endangered species
- Influences the Indian monsoon weather pattern and is older than the Himalayas geologically
- UNESCO status does not automatically confer the domestic legal protections that an ESA notification would provide — the two are separate regulatory tracks
The ESA notification is meant to give the ecologically sensitive parts of this UNESCO-recognised landscape a domestic regulatory shield (restricting mining, quarrying and select development activities), which international heritage status alone does not provide.
- Draft ESA area proposed (current notification): approximately 56,800 sq km
- States covered: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu (six states)
- Total Western Ghats area: about 1.64 lakh sq km; Kasturirangan-recommended ESA: 59,940 sq km (~37%)
- First draft notification issued: 2014; reissued multiple times since (2015, 2017, 2022, 2024, 2026)
- Kasturirangan report submitted: 15 April 2013; Gadgil report submitted: 31 January 2011
- Western Ghats UNESCO World Heritage inscription: 2012, 39 protected areas across 7 clusters