Centre notifies 7th draft for ecological zones in Western Ghats
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued its seventh draft notification proposing to declare approximately 56,825 sq km of the Western Ghats as an Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA).
The proposed ESA spans six states — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — covering roughly 1,463 villages, with Karnataka and Maharashtra accounting for the largest shares of the proposed area.
Unlike earlier drafts, this notification allows for phased, state-wise implementation, under which individual states could bring their respective ESA boundaries into force at different times instead of the notification being finalised simultaneously across all six states.
Some states have raised objections to the proposed boundaries, with concerns centring on the effect of restrictions on quarrying, mining and other land-based livelihoods within the notified villages.
The notification opens a fresh window for the public and state governments to submit suggestions and objections before the boundaries can be finalised, continuing a conservation effort for the region that has been underway since 2011.
Gadgil Committee (2011) vs Kasturirangan Committee (2013)
UPSC regularly tests the difference between the two expert reports that underlie every Western Ghats ESA draft. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), chaired by ecologist Madhav Gadgil, and the subsequent High-Level Working Group, chaired by K. Kasturirangan, arrived at very different conclusions on how much of the region needed protection and how.
Key Details
- The Gadgil Committee (WGEEP) submitted its report on 31 August 2011. It classified the entire Western Ghats (about 1,29,037 sq km) as an Ecologically Sensitive Area, divided into three zones — ESZ1 (highest sensitivity), ESZ2 (high sensitivity) and ESZ3 (moderate sensitivity) — with the top two zones together covering roughly 75% of the region, and proposed a bottom-up governance model built around gram sabhas and a statutory Western Ghats Ecology Authority.
- The Kasturirangan Committee, constituted to review the Gadgil report, submitted its report on 15 April 2013. It recommended a smaller, boundary-mapped ESA of about 59,940 sq km — roughly 37% of the Western Ghats — based on satellite-identified "natural landscapes," with a more top-down, boundary-based regulatory approach rather than zone-wise local governance.
- All draft notifications issued since 2013, including the current seventh draft (approximately 56,825 sq km), follow the Kasturirangan approach rather than the more expansive Gadgil recommendation.
The 2026 draft is the latest in a lineage of notifications built on the Kasturirangan boundary-mapping exercise; the persistent gap between the ~59,940 sq km Kasturirangan recommendation and the ~56,825 sq km now proposed reflects incremental exclusions made over multiple rounds of state objections since 2013.
Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA) — Legal Basis and Process
An Eco-Sensitive Area is a regulatory buffer notified by the Central Government to restrict specified industrial and developmental activities in ecologically fragile regions. It is a distinct legal category from a Protected Area (National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary) under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Key Details
- ESAs are notified by the Central Government under Section 3(2)(v) read with Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which empowers it to restrict or prohibit industries, operations, or processes in specified areas.
- Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 lists factors the Centre must weigh before imposing such restrictions, including biological diversity, proximity to protected areas, and land-use patterns.
- A "draft" notification under this framework has no binding legal force; it only invites objections and suggestions from the public and affected state governments before a "final" notification can be issued.
- The Western Ghats ESA process has remained at the draft stage through seven successive notifications since 2013 without ever being finalised.
Because the 2026 notification is only the seventh in a series of drafts, none of which has been finalised since the process began, the phased-implementation option is intended to help states that agree with their portion of the ESA move ahead without waiting for unanimous consensus across all six states.
Forests in the Concurrent List — Centre-State Federalism
The extended Centre-state negotiation over Western Ghats ESA boundaries illustrates how environmental regulation operates as a shared subject under India's federal structure.
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 the power to legislate on the subject.
- Article 48A (a Directive Principle inserted by the same amendment) directs the State to protect and improve the environment and to 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 issue the ESA notification, but on-ground implementation — village-level boundaries, livelihood impact, and infrastructure clearances — depends on state administrative machinery, making sustained Centre-state agreement necessary for finalisation.
The state-specific objections over livelihood impact, and the option of phased state-wise implementation, both stem from this concurrent arrangement, where the Centre can notify but cannot finalise or enforce the ESA without state-level cooperation.
- Proposed ESA area (seventh draft): approximately 56,825 sq km across six states and roughly 1,463 villages.
- States covered: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu.
- Gadgil Committee (WGEEP) report: submitted 31 August 2011; recommended ESA classification for the entire Western Ghats (~1,29,037 sq km), zoned into ESZ1/ESZ2/ESZ3.
- Kasturirangan Committee report: submitted 15 April 2013; recommended ESA of about 59,940 sq km (~37% of the Western Ghats).
- Draft notifications on Western Ghats ESA issued since 2013: this is the seventh such draft (previous drafts issued in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2024).
- Legal basis: Section 5, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; Rule 5, Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.