Western Ghats Panel Gets Year Extension as Eco-Zone Deadlock Persists
An expert committee set up by the Union environment ministry in 2022 to resolve states' concerns over ecologically sensitive area (ESA) demarcation in the Western Ghats has received a one-year extension, sources confirmed.
The extension, granted late last month, comes as both the committee and the Centre continue efforts to break the impasse over finalising the ESAs outlined in a July 2024 draft notification. That notification, the sixth iteration of the Western Ghats ESA exercise, lapsed without final approval.
The draft notification, published on August 2, 2024, proposed declaring 56,825.7 sq km across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala as ecologically sensitive. The Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the world's eight hottest biodiversity hotspots, but development pressures and conflicting state interests have long delayed a final notification.
The committee's task is to examine technical and legal issues raised by states regarding the draft's boundaries and provisions. The extension indicates that consensus remains elusive, with states citing economic concerns while environmentalists push for stricter protection.
The environment ministry has not commented officially on the extension. The original committee was formed after the Supreme Court directed the Centre to finalise the ESA notification in a time-bound manner.
