We need the voice of locals in preserving the Western Ghats
Every case of a major mishap in the Western Ghats has occurred in a locality identified as high-sensitivity by Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel
After years of delay, the central government recently established another committee to determine the ecologically sensitive zones (ESZs) in the Western Ghats. Undoubtedly, the environment of the region is crying out to be protected. The floods, landslides, super cyclones hitting the west coast, and water pollution leading to humongous fish mortalities, are all signs that the current model of “conservation by exclusion and development by exclusion”, as the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) characterised it, is taking its toll. But, of course, the pro-nature and pro-people WGEEP report, grounded in sound science, was unpalatable to the powers that be for it bluntly brought out evidence of rampant corruption. Unable to suppress it, they set up the Kasturirangan committee. This panel proposed an unscientific landscape classification into natural and cultural landscapes and shockingly pronounced that the local community members could have no role in economic decisions.
The panel dismissed cultural landscapes as deserving no protection. I want to quote the patriot and nature-lover, Air Marshal KC Cariappa (retd), to illustrate the perversity of this formulation. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Air Marshal Cariappa said of his beloved Kodagu’s cultural landscape: “The land was given to us by our forefathers for safe keeping in the interest of the future. They designated small ‘sacred groves’ of woodland that were inviolate. These today are being encroached upon. This tiny district is the source, and principal catchment area of the river Cauvery (with the famous sacred grove of Talakaveri at its origin). The river is drying, and slowly dying not only because of failed monsoons but more of the unbridled rape of the land.”
Air Marshal Cariappa is speaking out as a community member. While the Kasturirangan committee asserts that such people can have no say in economic decision-making, the Air Marshal states boldly: “Today we find our homeland in peril because of the rapacity, and lure of filthy lucre by self-serving politicians of all hues, and greedy mafiosi who control nefarious activities pertaining to our forests, sand mining, land and water resources.”
The Kasturirangan committee’s formulation should be rejected, yet it is the basis on which ESZs may be eventually declared. Journalists call it a dilution of the WGEEP report. It is no dilution but an outright denial of WGEEP’s scientific and democratic spirit.
WGEEP’s mandate was to demarcate areas within the Western Ghats region that need to be notified as ecologically sensitive. We had to build on the recommendations of the Pronab Sen Committee (2000), which identified several pertinent ecological parameters. But these were too broad and qualitative and dictated that we should consider the entire tract as an ecologically sensitive no-go zone. As scientists, we developed an appropriate quantitative measure using parameters such as elevation, slope, rainfall, the occurrence of natural vegetation, and important bird areas. Our proposal was published in Current Science and finalised following an open debate.
We identified specific localities at the level of talukas – roughly 1,000 square km each – as being of high, moderate, and low sensitivity and suggested specific measures at each level. We indicated that our suggestions should serve as a starting point for a bottom-up democratic process with ultimate decisions through a broad consensus.
The Kasturirangan committee turned this upside down and put all faith in the coercive forest department. What is this department up to? Air Marshal Cariappa said: “A further threat to the environment is the determination with which our politicians wish to drive two railway lines through forest, coffee estates, and paddy fields.” This is happening in Goa with railway lines being built at government cost to transport coal for India’s super-rich, destroying large chunks of the Mollem National Park, with wholehearted support from the forest department. It is the people of Goa who are protesting.
Every case of a major mishap in the Western Ghats has occurred in a locality identified as high-sensitivity by WGEEP and where activities recommended should be banned, such as quarrying, road construction, and destruction of natural vegetation, have been continually gathering pace. One such was Koottickal in the Kottayam district of Kerala, where 14 people died in a landslide on October 16, 2021. The people of Koottickal have been agitating to stop quarrying in the hill above their village for a decade, but to no avail. WGEEP had suggested that local communities use the provisions of India’s biological diversity act to protect their environment. In nearby Kodanad, a people’s biodiversity register had been prepared, documenting the adverse impacts of quarrying on biodiversity. On its basis, the Kerala high court banned quarrying in 2012. But vested interests threatened the panchayat later.
The lack of respect for our natural resources has driven India to the bottom of global environmental performance and happiness indices. We must move forward by turning to science and people’s empowerment as WGEEP advocates.
We must, therefore, declare as ESZ the localities identified by WGEEP as being ecologically highly sensitive and implement the recommended measures.
Madhav Gadgil is one of India’s most widely-regarded ecologists. He is a former professor of the Indian Institute of Science, where he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences
The views expressed are personal
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