Kerala Submits Revised Western Ghats ESA Recommendations to the Centre
The Kerala government has formally submitted its recommendations to the Union government on the extent of the proposed Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) within the state.
Kerala has asked that the ESA be limited to about 8,590 sq km across 98 villages, down from the Centre's draft proposal of 9,993.7 sq km across 131 villages — seeking exclusion of residential areas, plantations and agricultural land, retaining only forest tracts.
The state's Environment Minister said existing laws already protect these areas and that layering additional ESA restrictions would hamper the state's development.
The state has indicated it will bring a resolution before the State Assembly, when it next convenes, formally demanding exclusion of inhabited and agricultural land from the final ESA notification.
A Central expert commission has been engaging with Kerala officials to reconcile the demarcation gap before a final notification is issued.
Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) Notification under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
An Ecologically Sensitive Area is a zone identified for special regulatory protection because of its fragile ecology, biodiversity value or geomorphological sensitivity. The Central Government derives its power to declare such areas from Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986: Section 3(1) empowers it to take measures to protect and improve environmental quality, and Section 3(2)(v) specifically allows it to restrict areas where industries, operations or processes may or may not be carried out, or may be carried out only under safeguards.
Kerala's recommendation is itself a formal input into this Section 3 consultative process — proposing a smaller, forest-only ESA footprint (8,590 sq km) rather than accepting the Centre's larger draft figure (9,993.7 sq km) that includes inhabited and cultivated revenue land.
The Gadgil and Kasturirangan Committees on Western Ghats Conservation
The current ESA demarcation traces back to two expert panels constituted after Western Ghats conservation concerns intensified. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), chaired by ecologist Madhav Gadgil, submitted its report on 31 August 2011 recommending that the entire Western Ghats (about 64% of its area, spanning six states) be declared an ESA in a graded, three-zone manner — a recommendation seen as too sweeping and largely rejected by state governments. The Centre then constituted a High-Level Working Group chaired by K. Kasturirangan, which submitted its report on 15 April 2013, scaling the ESA area down to about 37% of the Western Ghats landscape by excluding already human-settled and cultivated areas, forming the basis for subsequent draft notifications.
Kerala's 8,590 sq km counter-proposal is the state's attempt to further pare down the Kasturirangan-based draft figure to exclude populated and agricultural revenue land, continuing a decade-long negotiation between the "natural landscape" conservation logic of the expert committees and state governments' developmental concerns.
- Centre's draft ESA proposal for Kerala: 9,993.7 sq km across 131 villages.
- Kerala's counter-proposal: about 8,590.69 sq km across 98 villages (seeking exclusion of 33 villages).
- Gadgil Committee report submitted: 31 August 2011 (proposed ~64% of Western Ghats as ESA).
- Kasturirangan Committee report submitted: 15 April 2013 (proposed ~37% of Western Ghats as ESA).
- ESA notification power derives from Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; draft notifications for the Western Ghats ESA have been pending since 2014.
- The Centre has maintained that, barring the Palakkad Gap, no part of the Western Ghats landscape can be excluded from the ESA.