Western Ghats ESA Explained: Gadgil vs Kasturirangan & the 6th Draft Notification
Why in News?
The Union Environment Ministry's expert committee under Sanjay Kumar is moving towards finalising the Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) for the Western Ghats, possibly through a phased, state-wise notification, even as Kerala and Karnataka continue to resist. With the sixth draft notification of about 56,825 sq km set to lapse by end-July 2026, the long-pending conservation regime for one of India's richest biodiversity hotspots is again in focus. This article explains what an ESA is and its legal basis, the contrast between the Gadgil and Kasturirangan reports, the journey of the six draft notifications, the biodiversity and monsoon significance of the Ghats, and the conservation-versus-development debate that has kept consensus elusive for over a decade.
Key Points
The Environment Ministry's expert committee, constituted in 2022 under Sanjay Kumar (former Director General of Forests), is in the final stages of reconciling state objections and finalising the ESA extent for the Western Ghats.
The sixth draft notification, issued on 31 July 2024, proposes about 56,825 sq km across six states as ESA and is valid till the end of July 2026.
The 2024 draft made a key deviation by allowing the ESA to be finalised either in a phased, state-wise manner or through a combined notification, so that states near consensus are not held back.
Gujarat is the only state to give final consent for its ESA share (about 449–470 sq km across 64 villages), while seeking permission to mine minor minerals in non-forest areas.
Karnataka, with the largest proposed share (about 20,668 sq km), has formally rejected the Kasturirangan report in Cabinet but continues to negotiate an alternative.
Kerala (9,993.7 sq km) has sought a further reduction of around 1,000 sq km, mainly to omit villages in Idukki's Cardamom Hills; the committee has not agreed.
Maharashtra (about 17,340 sq km) has sought exclusion of 378 of the 2,133 villages notified, citing industry, mining and distance from ESAs.
Tamil Nadu (about 6,914 sq km) has raised no major objection, while Goa's extent is yet to be finalised.
The 2024 Wayanad landslides (over 260 deaths), which struck a day before the draft was issued, revived public attention; 13 Wayanad villages figure in the draft.
The committee is also examining financial incentives for the six states, echoing the Kasturirangan panel's idea of a grant-in-aid and payments for ecosystem services.
Explained
What are the Western Ghats and why are they ecologically critical for India?
Geography and extent: The Western Ghats are a roughly 1,600-km mountain chain running parallel to India's western coast, about 30–50 km inland, across six states — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Locally called the Sahyadri, they stretch from near the Tapi valley in the north to Kanyakumari in the south and cover about 1,40,000–1,60,000 sq km. The highest peak is Anamudi (about 2,695 m) in Kerala.
Geological origin and the Palakkad Gap: The Ghats are older than the Himalayas and were shaped by tectonic movements linked to the break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana, volcanic activity (Deccan basalt) and long erosion. The chain is largely continuous except for the Palakkad (Palghat) Gap, a roughly 30-km-wide break that separates the Nilgiris to the north from the Anaimalai hills to the south; a smaller Shencottah Gap lies further south.
The "water tower" of peninsular India: Acting as a physical barrier to the moisture-laden south-west monsoon winds, the Ghats force the winds to rise, causing heavy orographic rainfall on their windward (western) side. This rain feeds springs and gives rise to major peninsular rivers such as the Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery and Periyar, sustaining agriculture, drinking water and livelihoods across south and central India.
A global biodiversity hotspot: The Ghats are one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite covering less than 6% of India's land area, they host over 30% of the country's plant, fish, bird, amphibian and mammal species, a very large share of which are endemic (found nowhere else).
What exactly is an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA), and what is its legal basis?
Statutory foundation: ESAs (also called Ecologically Sensitive Zones or Ecologically Fragile Areas) are notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) under Sections 3 and 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The idea draws on the Wildlife Conservation Strategy (2002), the National Wildlife Action Plan (2002–2016) and the National Environment Policy (2006).
Purpose — a regulatory buffer: ESAs are meant to act as "shock absorbers" or transition zones around ecologically valuable landscapes, regulating (not banning all) human activity to reduce ecological damage. Conventionally, land within 10 km of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be notified as an eco-sensitive zone, and larger ecologically important corridors can also be included.
What gets restricted: In a notified ESA, activities are graded into prohibited, regulated and permitted. Typically prohibited are mining, quarrying, sand mining, thermal power plants and new "red category" (highly polluting) industries, while activities like hydropower and "orange category" industries are strictly regulated; agriculture, horticulture and existing settlements are generally allowed.
What did the Gadgil Committee (WGEEP, 2011) recommend?
Mandate: The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), chaired by ecologist Madhav Gadgil, was set up by the Environment Ministry in 2010 and submitted its report in 2011. It identified the Western Ghats extent as about 1,29,037 sq km.
Entire region as ESA, with graded zones: The panel recommended that the entire Western Ghats be declared an ESA, divided into three graded Ecologically Sensitive Zones — ESZ-1, ESZ-2 and ESZ-3 — with the strictest curbs in the most sensitive ESZ-1. It proposed bans on new mining, large dams, thermal plants and polluting industries in the higher zones, and phasing out of existing mines.
Bottom-up governance: Gadgil stressed a decentralised, "bottom-to-top" approach driven by Gram Sabhas, and recommended a statutory Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA) under the EPA, 1986 to oversee the region.
Why it was resisted: State governments, industry and many local communities found the report too restrictive of development and livelihoods. Critics argued the zonation, based largely on remote-sensing and a coarse grid, ended up including entire taluks even where only small portions were fragile, and did not adequately account for the human "cultural" landscape.
How did the Kasturirangan Committee (HLWG, 2013) change the approach?
A High-Level Working Group: To re-examine the Gadgil report "in a holistic and multidisciplinary manner," the government set up a High-Level Working Group (HLWG) under space scientist K. Kasturirangan, which reported in 2013. It pegged the Western Ghats extent at about 1,64,280 sq km.
Cultural vs natural landscape: The HLWG split the Ghats into a "cultural landscape" (human settlements, farms and plantations, about 60%) and a "natural landscape" (high biological richness, low population density, national parks and tiger and elephant habitats, about 40%). It recommended that only this natural landscape — roughly 37% (about 60,000 sq km) — be notified as ESA.
Targeted, village-level restrictions: Within the ESA, the panel called for a ban on mining, quarrying and sand mining, and on new thermal power plants and large townships, while regulating hydropower and orange-category industries. It classified activities into red (banned), orange (regulated) and green (permitted), and importantly released state-wise, village-level lists, making the proposal more administratively workable than Gadgil's blanket model.
How has the ESA notification evolved through the six draft notifications?
From 2014 to 2024: Acting on the Kasturirangan report, the Centre issued its first draft notification in March 2014, demarcating about 56,825 sq km as ESA — already reduced by over 3,000 sq km after Kerala's "ground-truthing" exercise excluded several plantation, orchard and residential areas. Since then, six draft notifications have been issued (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2024), each lapsing without becoming final because of unresolved state objections.
The phased option: The sixth draft, on 31 July 2024, retained the roughly 56,825 sq km figure but newly allowed the ESA to be finalised in a phased, state-wise manner or as a combined notification — a pragmatic move to lock in states that are close to agreement.
The expert committee route: With consensus elusive till 2022, the Centre set up the Sanjay Kumar expert committee to re-examine objections, undertake field visits (done in all states except Kerala) and reconcile village-level data using satellite imagery and state inputs.
Why do the states object, and where do they stand now?
Conservation vs development and votes: The core tension is between protecting a fragile ecosystem and the developmental, mining, plantation and settlement interests of a densely populated, economically active region. Restrictions touch cash-crop economies built on pepper, cardamom, tea, coffee, rubber and spices.
State positions: Gujarat has consented; Tamil Nadu has largely cooperated given its small share. Maharashtra wants 378 villages excluded; Goa's extent is being finalised. The hardest cases remain Karnataka, which rejected the Kasturirangan report outright citing hardship to over a thousand villages, and Kerala, which wants further reductions around Idukki and Wayanad. Civil-society protests both for stronger protection and for omission of villages have occurred in Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
How did the 2024 Wayanad landslides reframe the debate?
A grim reminder: On 30 July 2024, catastrophic landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district killed over 260 people. Scientists linked the disaster to forest-cover loss, quarrying on fragile slopes, intense rainfall and climate change.
Echo of old warnings: The Gadgil panel had classified all three divisions of Wayanad as the most sensitive ESZ-1 and urged curbs on construction and mining. With the sixth draft issued just a day later, the tragedy renewed arguments that ignoring ecological warnings carries a human cost — even as officials maintained the timing was coincidental.
How does the concept of a "biodiversity hotspot" work, and where does India stand?
The criteria: The biodiversity hotspot concept was proposed by ecologist Norman Myers (1988). To qualify, a region must (i) contain at least 1,500 endemic species of vascular plants and (ii) have lost at least 70% of its original (primary) vegetation — combining irreplaceability with threat.
India's hotspots: India is part of four of the world's recognised biodiversity hotspots — the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats–Sri Lanka, and Sundaland (Nicobar Islands). The Western Ghats–Sri Lanka hotspot is among the eight "hottest" globally, reflecting both exceptional endemism and severe threat.
Data Crunch
UNESCO World Heritage Site status was conferred in 2012; the serial property comprises 39 component sites grouped in 7 clusters across four states (Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra).
The Ghats host over 7,400 species of flowering plants, about 139 mammals, 500-plus birds, 179 amphibians and around 290 freshwater fish; endemism among amphibians, reptiles and fishes runs above 50–60%.
Endemic-only species cited in the draft include roughly 2,000 plants, 87 amphibians, 89 reptiles, 84 fish, 15 birds and 12 mammals found nowhere else.
The region contains 61 protected areas (national parks and wildlife sanctuaries).
Proposed ESA extent: about 56,825 sq km (~37% of the Ghats), against the Gadgil panel's recommendation of the entire ~1,29,037 sq km and the Kasturirangan panel's mapped extent of ~1,64,280 sq km.
The Ghats are estimated to influence rainfall over a large part of the peninsula and are credited with a major share of monsoon rain on the west coast.
Way Forward
Phased, consensus-based notification: locking in consenting states (Gujarat, Tamil Nadu) while continuing dialogue with Karnataka and Kerala can break the decade-long deadlock without diluting protection.
Financial incentives and payments for ecosystem services (PES): a grant-in-aid to states and compensation to communities for conservation can align ecology with livelihoods, as the Kasturirangan panel suggested.
Scientific, village-level demarcation using satellite imagery and ground-truthing to address genuine grievances about wrongly included settlements and plantations.
Decentralised, participatory governance involving Gram Sabhas, biodiversity management committees and local bodies to build trust and ownership.
Integrating disaster-risk reduction — regulating quarrying, construction and land-use change on fragile slopes — into ESA planning, given recurring landslides like Wayanad.
Promoting eco-friendly alternatives — sustainable agriculture, eco-tourism and agroforestry — so that conservation does not freeze regional development.
UPSC Prelims Facts
The Western Ghats span six states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu; locally called the Sahyadri.
Highest peak: Anamudi (~2,695 m), Kerala; major break: Palakkad (Palghat) Gap.
ESAs are notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 by the MoEFCC.
WGEEP / Gadgil Committee (2011): entire Ghats as ESA, zoned into ESZ-1, ESZ-2, ESZ-3; proposed a Western Ghats Ecology Authority.
HLWG / Kasturirangan Committee (2013): only ~37% (~60,000 sq km) as ESA; cultural vs natural landscape; red/orange/green activity classification.
Proposed ESA: about 56,825 sq km; sixth draft notification issued 31 July 2024.
UNESCO World Heritage Site (2012): 39 sites in 7 clusters; one of the world's eight "hottest" biodiversity hotspots.
India has four biodiversity hotspots: Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats–Sri Lanka, Sundaland (Nicobar Islands).
Biodiversity hotspot criteria (Norman Myers): ≥1,500 endemic vascular plants and ≥70% loss of primary vegetation.
Expert committee (2022) chaired by Sanjay Kumar, former Director General of Forests.
UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs)
Differentiate the causes of landslides in the Himalayan region and the Western Ghats.UPSC Mains GS Paper 1, 2021
Three of the following criteria have contributed to the recognition of Western Ghats–Sri Lanka and Indo-Burma regions as hotspots of biodiversity: 1. Species richness 2. Vegetation density 3. Endemism 4. Ethno-botanical importance 5. Threat perception 6. Adaptation of flora and fauna to warm and humid conditions. Which three of the above are correct criteria in this context? (a) 1, 2 and 6 (b) 2, 4 and 6 (c) 1, 3 and 5 (d) 3, 4 and 6. Answer: (c).UPSC Prelims, 2011
UPSC Mains Practice Questions
The repeated failure to finalise an Ecologically Sensitive Area for the Western Ghats reflects the deeper tension between ecological conservation and developmental aspirations in India. In this context, critically examine the recommendations of the Gadgil and Kasturirangan committees and suggest a balanced way forward. (250 words)
UPSC Prelims Practice MCQs
- The Western Ghats were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in which year, and as how many component sites?23 Jun 2026
- Which of the following correctly describes the Kasturirangan Committee (HLWG, 2013) recommendation?23 Jun 2026
- The concept of a "biodiversity hotspot" requires that a region:Contains at least 1,500 endemic species of vascular plants.Has lost at least 70% of its original primary vegetation.Lies entirely within the tropics.Which of the statements given above is/are correct?23 Jun 2026
- The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (Gadgil Committee) recommended which of the following?1.Declaring the entire Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area.2.Classification of the region into ESZ-1, ESZ-2 and ESZ-3.3.Establishment of a Western Ghats Ecology Authority.Select the correct answer using the code given below:23 Jun 2026
- With reference to the Western Ghats, consider the following statements:1.They lie in six Indian states.2.They are older than the Himalayas.3.The Palakkad Gap divides the range.How many of the statements given above are correct?23 Jun 2026
- With reference to Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) in India, consider the following statements:1.They are notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.2.They are declared exclusively by the National Green Tribunal.3.They can include areas beyond 10 km from a national park or sanctuary if such areas form important ecological corridors.Which of the statements given above is/are correct?23 Jun 2026