To protect Western Ghats, southern states must break impasse

📌 Summary:

• Context: Implementation of Kasturirangan Committee measures to protect the Western Ghats has been pending for over 12 years
• Core issue: The committee proposed declaring 60,000 sq km (~37% of the chain) as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA), banning mining, polluting industries, thermal power plants and large constructions — six states (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka) pushed back
• Development: Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa have now relented, potentially enabling ESA protection over ~19,000 sq km
• Why the Ghats matter (significance): One of the world's eight 'hottest hotspots' of biodiversity; acts as a barrier to monsoon winds giving heavy coastal rainfall; source of Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Periyar and other rivers
• Why resistance (causal chain): The region is densely populated (unlike the Himalaya), so the development-vs-environment argument gained traction — though ecologists stress ESAs would not harm farm livelihoods and could shield agriculture from climate vagaries
• Precedents/warnings: 2018 Kerala floods and the 2024 Wayanad landslide underscored the perils of ignoring the Ghats' fragility
• Urgency: Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu hold ~two-thirds of the proposed ESA and must be brought on board
• Solution proposed: A Payment for Ecosystem Services-type system to remunerate locals for ecological services (water security, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, climate regulation) to reconcile economic aspirations with ecology and break the impasse

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Environment — biodiversity conservation, ESAs, Centre-state/cooperative federalism in environmental governance, development vs conservation trade-off

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Kasturirangan Committee recommended ~37% of the Western Ghats as ESA; Gadgil Committee had earlier proposed a larger area
• Palakkad Gap is the break in the chain on the TN-Kerala border
• Western Ghats is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a global biodiversity hotspot

🔑 Key Term: Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) — a notified zone under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 where ecologically harmful activities are regulated/prohibited