To protect Western Ghats, southern states must break impasse

📌 Summary:

• Context: Implementation of measures to protect the Western Ghats, proposed by the K Kasturirangan-led committee, has been pending for over 12 years
• Core issue: Six states (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka) resisted declaring ~60,000 sq km (about 37% of the range) as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) banning mining, polluting industries, thermal power plants and large constructions
• Development: Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa have now relented, potentially enabling ESA protection over ~19,000 sq km
• Why the Ghats matter: one of the world's eight 'hottest hotspots' of biodiversity; the landform acts as a barrier to monsoon winds causing heavy coastal rainfall; source of the Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Periyar and other rivers
• Tension: the region is densely populated (unlike the Himalaya), so the environment-vs-development argument gains traction, though ecologists stress ESAs would not harm farm livelihoods and could shield agriculture from climate vagaries
• Precedents: Kerala floods (2018) and the Wayanad landslide (2024) underscored the perils of ignoring the Ghats' fragility
• Way forward: Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu (two-thirds of the proposed ESA) must be brought on board; a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) model to remunerate locals for ecological services could reconcile economic aspirations with ecological realities

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Environment — conservation vs development, ESA regulation, biodiversity hotspots, federal coordination on environmental governance; GS1 geography of Western Ghats

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Kasturirangan Committee recommended ~37% (~60,000 sq km) of the Western Ghats as ESA; Gadgil Committee had earlier proposed a larger area
• Western Ghats is one of the world's eight 'hottest' biodiversity hotspots and a UNESCO World Heritage region
• Palakkad Gap breaks the chain on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border
• Rivers originating: Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Periyar

🔑 Key Term: Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) — compensating local communities for conserving ecosystems that provide benefits like water security and carbon sequestration.