Western Ghats under siege as years of ignored warnings trigger ecological alarm

Bengaluru: Flattened by vehicle tyres, frog carcasses lay scattered along a stretch of National Highway 206, between Talaguppa and Kathlekan, as researchers carefully recorded the deaths in a small notebook. During the four-day survey in June 2008, they counted 144 dead individuals within a stretch of 3.6 km. We observed that the stretch along the forests had the highest number (66), compared with 47 for the stretches on agricultural land and 31 for ponds.

“Not only was the number of individuals higher in the forest stretch, but the number of species was also greater, indicating higher overall diversity along the section passing through the forests,” said K S Seshadri, then a research assistant and now a faculty member at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, Bengaluru.

Frogs and toads are widely regarded as vital indicators of a healthy ecosystem. Sensitive to environmental changes, they are often among the first species to be affected, much earlier than apex predators such as tigers or small mammals.

However, ecological damage caused by rampant land-use changes over the last three decades has gone largely unnoticed, as warnings were either not studied or ignored.

Data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shows that threats to the flora and fauna of the Western Ghats in Karnataka have increased over the past two decades. Of the 1,282 species of flora and fauna analysed in Karnataka between 1998 and 2025, 239 species — nearly one in five — have entered the threatened category while insufficient data exists to assess as many as 111 species.

The rising threat is visible in the numbers. In 2011, the IUCN assessed 369 species and found that 53 (14%) were threatened. Between 2022 and 2025, 327 species were assessed, and 91 (28%) were classified as threatened, indicating a sharp increase in the number of threatened species in recent years. 

In fact, more than half (130) of the 239 species on the threatened list in Karnataka are endemic, with 106 of them restricted to specific parts of the Western Ghats. Among them is the iconic dancing frog, a stream dwelling amphibian whose behaviour changes even with a small increase in water level. 

These frogs perch on small rocks in the streams, and wave their feet to defend territories. The iconic dancing frog is now classified as critically endangered. 

For hundreds of species like the dancer frog, pesticide runoff from agricultural fields is enough to alter behaviour, while increased water turbidity from road construction disrupts the complex communication systems of fish. The muddy water interferes with the electrical signals fish use to communicate.

No assessment

Yet, the devastation caused by large-scale projects such as the Yettinahole drinking water project in Hassan district is rarely studied, leaving ecosystems without any restoration measures. 

The crisis was foreseen by many experts, including the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) led by Madhav Gadgil and the High Level Working Group (HLWG) of K Kasturirangan. Particularly, Gadgil's much-maligned report warned about the impending ecological crisis in the Western Ghats, and its consequences for the lives and livelihoods of lakhs of people dependent on the region. 

The cost of ignoring Gadgil report and subsequent studies has been high, with the burden borne largely by vulnerable communities and ecosystems that contributed little to the damage. Studies published by the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority show that landslides have claimed over 60 lives since 2009 while floods killed 248 between 2018 and 2020, with most victims belonging to vulnerable sections of society. 

In 2010, the Ministry of Environment and Forests filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court stating that all tourism, wind power and hydro power projects should be "stayed immediately" until a technical report on the Ghats' carrying capacity was prepared. The report, it said, should also be used to review projects that had already received environmental clearance. 

The Supreme Court transferred the matter to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which ordered the preparation of the report. The report was submitted in July 2018, following an order by the NGT. Assessing projects based on the carrying capacity of the area was seen as a ‘middle path’ between the “prohibitive and regulatory regime” of the Kasturirangan Committee Report and the unchecked environmental destruction caused by commercial projects.

No-go area

The report analysed the 1,464 villages that had been notified as sensitive in 10 districts by the HLWG and classified them into three categories. It noted that the Western Ghats region of Karnataka has four national parks, 10 sanctuaries, four tiger reserves, 13 tiger corridors and four conservation reserves including part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, together covering 594 villages.

“Accordingly, the committee suggests declaring the entire 1,281 villages as ‘No Go’ areas for all developmental activities to protect the ecosystem vitality and human health," the report said, classifying the remaining villages as highly sensitive (56) and medium sensitive (115).

In fact, the Ghats already bear heavy weight. Apart from the 26 mini-hydel projects, many of them in critically sensitive areas, an average of two national highways and state highways run through the forests in the 10 Ghats districts. More pumped storage projects and river diversion projects are in the pipeline. 

Besides opposing several hydel projects, the report made specific recommendations to mitigate the damage caused by the linear projects, industries and other development activities.

Report ignored

M D Subash Chandran, whose analysis formed the basis of the report, said that approval of development projects in protected areas despite the report could amount to contempt of court. “It appears the government has suppressed the report to give clearance to highway projects and the controversial pumped storage project in the Sharavathi Lion Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary. It is unfortunate that the government has ignored it and constituted yet another committee to write another report," he said.  

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) Meenakshi Negi, who heads the new committee set up by the government to prepare a carrying capacity assessment, said that the panel is working to synthesise findings from multiple studies. “We have found several studies examining different aspects of carrying capacity. We are collating these and also going beyond them to look at the fundamentals,” she said. One of the key aspects under consideration, she added, is human development. “It helps conservation if we integrate people with the efforts to protect ecology. Conservation efforts are strengthened when people are integrated into the process of protecting ecology," she said. 

Apart from highlighting the importance of the Western Ghats for the overall development of Karnataka, the 2018 report placed emphasis on flagship species, wildlife corridors, rainfall characteristics, and rare and endemic species among others. Subash Chandran said that the high level of endemism further strengthens the case for leaving protected areas untouched.

More projects

The lack of acknowledgement has paved the way for proposals like the Aghanashini-Vedavathi river diversion project, even though a carrying capacity study of Uttara Kannada district by Prof T V Ramachandra of the Indian Institute of Science warns that such projects could spell ecological disaster. The study advocates “ecologically integrated clustering for development”, a model that supports local populations while protecting ecosystems.

Experts note that this approach is feasible when agencies adopt a 'systems approach' to carrying capacity assessments, moving beyond a focus solely on keystone species like tigers and elephants. “We need to go beyond the linear approach where the report's aspect is limited to being a gate keeper. A systems approach which accommodates the dynamic and complex interactions of various elements and accommodates planning on a larger time scale is important," said H S Sudhira of Gubbi Labs, a research collective specialising in sustainable ecosystems.

B K Singh, former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, stressed the urgent need for accountability in the governance of the Western Ghats. "Accountability in governance is as important as scientific studies. Major violations like the illegal submergence of (700 acre) forest by Lakya dam in Kudremukh have gone unpunished. This shows that those who commit such violations are not held to account. That has to change," he said.

Without urgent action, both scientific guidance and local livelihoods risk being drowned out by unchecked development, leaving the Western Ghats’ unique biodiversity and fragile ecosystems in peril.