Context
Kerala has urged the Centre to reduce the proposed Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) in the Western Ghats and largely confine it to forests, while excluding populated areas, farmlands and plantations. The move comes amid continuing opposition from Western Ghats States, with Karnataka also seeking revision of the Kasturirangan-based ESA proposal and fresh ground-level surveys.
Explanation
- The Western Ghats are a global biodiversity hotspot extending across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
- The Gadgil Committee (WGEEP, 2011) recommended extensive ecological protection and classified areas into different levels of sensitivity.
- The K. Kasturirangan High-Level Working Group (2013) subsequently proposed a more limited Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) approach.
- ESAs are notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
- Kerala argues that human habitations, agricultural lands and plantations should remain outside the ESA.
- ESA regulation seeks to restrict environmentally damaging activities while balancing biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
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