Delay dangerous for Western Ghats

The assurance given by Union Environment and Forest Minister Bhupender Yadav to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai that the central government would not take a hasty decision on declaring eco-sensitive zones in the Western Ghats region was not surprising. Governments of the other states in the Ghat region have also conveyed to the Centre their opposition to the draft notification issued by it early this month which set apart 59,940 sq km of the Ghats as eco-sensitive area. As much as 20,668 sq km of this is in Karnataka. The notification was made in accordance with the recommendations of the K Kasturirangan Committee. This committee was set up by the government to water down the recommendations of the earlier Madhav Gadgil Committee, which had suggested that most of the Ghat area should be considered as eco-sensitive. Both committees have proposed restriction of a number of human activities, such as mining and other environmentally harmful activities, in the area.

The Western Ghats are among the world’s hottest bio-diversity spots. They influence the Indian monsoon and control the climate of the states that they straddle. They are important for the lives of the entire populations of these states. The recommendations of the committee will go only some way in protecting the environment of the Ghat region. If they are not acceptable, the entire region will have to be prepared for serious calamities that will disrupt economies and lives. Most of the damage and environmental loss sustained by the Ghats already is the result of deforestation, encroachments, and the setting up of human settlements over the past decades, and their impact is already being felt in many ways. Human habitations have brought in their wake many activities that have damaged the pristine ecology of the Ghats. These activities are continuing even now.

Governments, politicians and others who have a vested interest in activities that have harmed the Ghats environment would only oppose the proposal to have eco-sensitive zones in the region. A most insincere statement that comes from them is that they consider the environment important but human lives more so. It is not realised that the lives of the people will be in greater danger if timely steps are not taken to restore and retain the ecology of the Ghats. The degradation of the Ghats will endanger the lives of millions of others, too. The Kasturirangan Committee’s recommendations are themselves inadequate. If even they are not implemented, it is not known what can be done to stop further deterioration of the environment of the Ghats and the catastrophes that might come in its trail.