Western Ghats/ Sahyadri: India
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Gadgil report
The eco-sensitive zone
The Times of India, Sep 14 2015
Clara Lewis
56,827 sq km of W Ghats across 6 states eco-sensitive
Notification bans mining, quarring, thermal projects The Centre, through a September 4 order, has notified 56,825 sq km spread over six states --Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu-as ecologically sensitive area (ESA). Karnataka has the largest share with 20, 668 sq km under this zone.
The notification comes nearly four years after in 2015, the Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel recommended that the entire Western Ghats be declared as ESA since it is a bio-diversity hotspot. Thereafter, the union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) constituted the K Kasturirangan High Level Working Group (HLWG) to take a relook at the entire issue. The HLWG recommended that 37% of the Western Ghats, which con stitute 60,000 sq km, be declared as ESA.But only 56,825 sq km has been declared.
The onus of monitoring and enforcing restriction in the ESAs has been placed on the respective states, though the MoEF will set up a monitoring centre for the Western Ghats.
In Maharashtra, the ESA includes 2,177 villages in nine districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Thane, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Pune, Satara and Kolha pur. The notification has banned all new red category industries, mining, quarrying and sand mining in the ESAs. All existing mines will be phased out in five years of the final notification or on the expiry of mining lease. It has also banned new thermal projects and expansion of existing ones in the ESAs.
D Stalin of NGO Vanshakti said no thermal power projects have been proposed in the ghats. “On the other hand, the notification permits hydropower projects within 3km of each other. This will affect the flow of water downstream,“ he said.
No new building or construction projects and expansion of existing ones above 20,000 sq m are to be allowed. Similarly area development projects or townships above 50 hectares have been prohibited. Activists, however, point out that the notification restricts the builtup area permitted for each project but there is no restriction on the number of projects permitted in an ESA.
Environmentalist Sumaira Abdulali said the notification permits orange category industry that are polluting.
Earmarking of ‘ecologically sensitive’ area
Stalled since March 2014
Vishwa Mohan, August 27, 2018: The Times of India
From: Vishwa Mohan, August 27, 2018: The Times of India
More than four years and three draft notifications since March 2014 when the Centre recognised the need to prevent further degradation of the fragile ecology of Western Ghats, it has failed to bring six states on board for urgent action.
As a result, 56,825 sq km of 'ecologically sensitive' area could not be earmarked as 'no go' zone for polluting activities and deforestation — a prerequisite to save the region from constant environmental degradation.
Earmarking Kerala's 9,993 sq km as Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA) four years ago may not have saved the state from excessive rainfall but the delay is certainly making the state, along with five others in the Western Ghats, more vulnerable.
Since the demarcated areas remain on paper despite the draft being notified thrice in the past four years, continued deforestation in the fragile zone has left the entire stretch of 1,500 km running through the six states prone to landslides and floods even in a situation of 'above normal' rainfall during a short period of time.
"High rainfall needs vegetated hills to break the rain's energy and clear drainage lines (stream and rivers) to safely take the silt and water to the seas. Over time, denudation of hills, raising of dams, diversion of drainage lines and occupation of floodplains created a recipe for what has been witnessed," environmentalist Manoj Misra said.
"Unless 'business as usual' is reversed, Kerala 2018 is not the last that the nation has seen," Misra, convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, said while noting that destruction of 'ecologically sensitive' area in Kerala was one of the reasons for the devastation it witnessed this month.
Every time the environment ministry notified the ESA draft, as recommended by a high level working group (HLWG) headed by space scientist K Kasturirangan, it asked the Western Ghats states — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — to submit their views or objections.
The process, however, has already seen a four-year delay. It has got entangled in states' objections — mainly from Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
"As a result, large-scale deforestation, mining and construction are continuing unabated, hurting the ecology of Western Ghats. Such harmful practices will increase the intensity of disaster. This flood (in Kerala) would have happened in any case. The destruction of Western Ghats made its impact worse," said Chandra Bhushan, climate change expert at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
The HLWG had submitted its recommendations on earmarking ESA in April 2013 after examining details of an earlier report by ecologist Madhav Gadgil. Both reports had flagged need to earmark ESA to prevent deforestation in Western Ghats.
The ministry wants the states to speed up the process. It told Parliament last month that "finalisation of draft notification is subject to the final views of state governments".
Species
2022/ new gin berry species from the Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu
E.M. Manoj, March 4, 2022: The Hindu
From:
A team of scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has discovered a new gin berry species from the Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. The species, named Glycosmis albicarpa with a distinct large white fruit, is endemic to the southern Western Ghats. The species belongs to the Orange family, Rutaceae.
The findings have been published in the latest issue of Nordic Journal of Botany, published from Sweden .
Many of the related plants of these taxonomic groups are being utilised for their medicinal values and food. Most commonly related species of these plants are collected from the wild, mainly for local use as food and medicine.
Berries of Glycosmis species have the unique characteristic of ‘gin aroma’ and has gained in popularity as an edible fruit. The species is also a larval host plant for butterflies like other species of Glycosmis, said K. A. Sujana, the leader of the scientific team said.
The species, an evergreen small tree, was found as undergrowth in Tirunelveli semi-evergreen forests at the Panagudi forest section of the wildlife sanctuary as a single population that covers an area of approximately 2 sq.km., said Dr. Sujana.
“While exploring the study site, four sub-populations of the species were located in the valley between two hillocks, with each having three–seven mature individuals in groups,” she said. Though flowering, natural regeneration and seedling recruitment of this taxon is found to be fairly good within the locality, while habitat modification causes a major threat to the survival of this species, she added.
“A special conservation effort for this particular region is the need of the hour”, said Dr. Sujana.
The discovery not only re-emphasises the uniqueness and endemism in Western Ghats’ flora but also add to the growing inventory of the region’s flora, said Ragesh Gopala Vadhyar, co-author.
“Since the world is losing precious habitats that are home to many unique and endemic species, it is high time we protected the Western Ghats to conserve such species before they are lost forever,” said Dr. Vadhyar.
Tourism
2018: 4th spot in Lonely Planet’s “2018 Best in Asia” list
From: Western Ghats bags fourth best tourist spot in Lonely Planet’s best Asia destinations list, July 11, 2018: The Hindu
It figures in Lonely Planet’s collection of 10 of the best destinations in Asia
Older than the Himalayas and well known for its rich and unique flora and fauna, the Western Ghats has figured in Lonely Planet’s top five “2018 Best in Asia” list, a collection of 10 of the best destinations to visit in the continent for the year.
One of the Hottest Biodiversity Hotspots and UNESCO World Heritage site, the Western Ghats has came fourth in the list of the Lonely Planet, considered a Bible by travellers worldwide. Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana), which has started blooming after 12 years in the famed hill station of Munnar has found mention in report.
“India’s steamy southern highlands have never garnered the same column inches as the hill stations and Himalayan heights of North India, but the Western Ghats offer an atmospheric mirror to Shimla and Darjeeling, with added jungle appeal. Traversing Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, these rugged hills are UNESCO listed as one of the top spots for biodiversity in the world, protecting everything from wild elephants and tigers to the neelakurinji flower, which blooms only once every 12 years and will be painting the hills in purple livery from August to October 2018. Visit now and you’ll find coffee, tea and spice plantations, charmingly dated colonial outposts, thundering waterfalls, and even a steam-powered mountain railway,” says the magazine in its report.
Western Ghats supports the life of 7,402 species of flowering plants, 1814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, 6000 insects species and 290 freshwater fish species.
“Asia is such a vast and diverse continent for anyone dreaming of an escape,” Lonely Planet’s Asia-Pacific Media Spokesperson Chris Zeiher has said. The panel of travel experts have named Busan, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to the first three spots.
“Our experts have combed through thousands of recommendations to pick the best destinations to visit over the next 12 months.” Nagasaki, Japan, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Lumbini, Nepal, Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka, Sìchuan Province, China and Komodo National Park, Indonesia are the destinations listed after Western Ghats.
See also
Western Ghats/ Sahyadri: India
