Western Ghats ESA Draft: Demand to Exclude Inhabited and Agricultural Land
A representative body of a Kerala-based Christian denomination has demanded that inhabited areas and agricultural/plantation land be excluded from the proposed Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA), confining the ESA strictly to forest land.
The demand comes amid the Union government's latest (2026) draft ESA notification, which proposes to bring 56,825 sq km of the Western Ghats across six states under ESA restrictions.
Within this, the notification proposes roughly 9,993.7 sq km for Kerala, comprising about 9,107 sq km of forest land and 886.7 sq km of non-forest land — smaller than the 13,108 sq km Kerala area recommended earlier by the Kasturirangan-led High-Level Working Group.
The draft is open for public objections and suggestions before final notification, and its implementation requires concurrence from all six Western Ghats states.
Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA): Legal Basis and Purpose
An Ecologically Sensitive Area (also called an Eco-Sensitive Zone in some notifications) is a designation used to regulate — not necessarily prohibit — developmental and industrial activity in ecologically fragile regions, without displacing existing habitation.
The demand to confine the ESA to forest land only, rather than the wider landscape-level approach, reflects a recurring tension in how much of the "cultural landscape" of the Western Ghats (human settlements, farms, plantations) should fall under regulatory restriction versus be carved out.
Gadgil Committee (2011) vs. Kasturirangan Committee (2013)
Two expert panels have shaped the Western Ghats ESA debate with sharply different approaches to how much of the region should be protected and how.
The demand for exclusion of inhabited areas aligns with — and seeks to go further than — the Kasturirangan approach, asking that even the reduced Kerala ESA figure be pruned to forest-only land.
Western Ghats: Geography and Ecological Significance
The Western Ghats are a continuous mountain range running roughly 1,600 km along India's western coast, from the Tapi River in Gujarat/Maharashtra to Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu, forming the catchment for peninsular rivers such as the Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri.
The debate over "inhabited vs forest-only" ESA boundaries in Kerala sits directly at the intersection of disaster-risk reduction (post-landslide policy) and livelihood/land-rights concerns of hill communities.
- 2026 Western Ghats ESA draft notification: 56,825 sq km across six states (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu), issued 27 July 2026.
- Kerala's proposed ESA area: ~9,993.7 sq km (9,107 sq km forest + 886.7 sq km non-forest).
- Kasturirangan Committee's recommended Kerala ESA area (2013): 13,108 sq km.
- Gadgil Committee (2011) recommended ESA coverage: ~64% of Western Ghats; Kasturirangan Committee (2013) scaled this to ~37%.
- Cultural landscape (habitation, agriculture, plantations) covers an estimated 58.44% of the Western Ghats per the Kasturirangan report.
- Western Ghats: UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012; spans six states; ~1,600 km length.
- Legal basis for ESA notification: Section 3(2)(v), Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.