Western Ghats ESA Demarcation: Demand to Limit Boundary to Notified Forest Land
A demand has been raised that the Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) boundary in Karnataka's Western Ghats districts be limited strictly to notified forest land, with "not a foot extra" added
The state government has been urged to conduct a physical, on-ground survey of the proposed ESA area before finalising boundaries
The demand cites the "Kerala model" as a precedent, under which populated areas, agricultural land, and plantations were kept out of the ESA notification
The issue affects a large number of villages across multiple Western Ghats districts of Karnataka that fall within the draft ESA notification
Kasturirangan Committee Report on Western Ghats (2013)
The Kasturirangan Committee (formally the High-Level Working Group on Western Ghats) was constituted in 2012 by the Union government to review and moderate the more stringent recommendations of the earlier Gadgil Committee (Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, 2011). Its report, submitted in 2013, forms the basis of the current draft ESA notifications across all six Western Ghats states.
Key Details
- Recommended approximately 37% of the Western Ghats' total area (about 60,000 sq km) be declared Ecologically Sensitive Area, against the Gadgil Committee's more expansive recommendation of roughly 64%
- Of the total recommended ESA, about 20,668 sq km falls within Karnataka, spanning over 1,500 villages
- Recommended a ban on mining, quarrying, red-category industries, and new thermal power projects within the ESA; existing activities were largely to be allowed to continue with regulation
- The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued multiple successive draft ESA notifications since 2014, none yet finalised, due to opposition from Western Ghats states
The current demand to restrict the ESA to notified forest land is a direct pushback against the Kasturirangan Committee's boundary, which includes non-forest land such as plantations and revenue/agricultural land within its ESA footprint.
Gadgil Committee vs Kasturirangan Committee: Contrasting Approaches
The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (Gadgil Committee, 2011) recommended a much larger and more restrictive ESA covering nearly the entire Western Ghats landscape, graded into three ecological sensitivity zones with cumulative, participatory (gram sabha-based) decision-making. The Kasturirangan Committee (2013) instead recommended a smaller, more development-friendly ESA based on satellite-mapped natural landscape versus cultural (human-modified) landscape.
The demand for a "Kerala model" — physically verifying and excluding non-forest, populated, and cultivated land — reflects the long-running tension between the Kasturirangan Committee's satellite-based boundary and the ground reality of human settlement within it.
ESA Notification Process under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
An Ecologically Sensitive Area is declared by the Union government under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, read with the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, which empowers the Centre to restrict industries, operations, or processes in areas of ecological fragility. The Western Ghats ESA notifications have gone through several draft iterations since 2014 without final notification.
The call for a physical survey and boundary reduction is a request to use this consultative draft-notification stage to correct the ESA boundary before it is finalised under the Act.
- Kasturirangan Committee (2013) recommended ESA: ~37% of Western Ghats area, roughly 60,000 sq km
- Gadgil Committee (2011) recommended ESA: ~64% of Western Ghats area
- Karnataka's share of the recommended Western Ghats ESA: approximately 20,668 sq km, spanning over 1,500 villages
- Legal basis for ESA notification: Section 3, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
- Multiple draft ESA notifications for the Western Ghats have been issued since 2014, none finalised as of this report