Kerala seeks to limit its ESA to 8,712 sq km in 98 villages

 

THE HINDU BUREAU, 

KOCHI, September 19, 2024

Kerala has proposed to limit its ecologically sensitive area (ESA) to 8,711.98 sq km in 98 villages by confining the ESA to forests and protected areas including wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, and tiger reserves of the State.

The State has excluded human habitations and plantations from the purview of the ESA in the process. It has also added a rider to its draft proposal submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that it may come up with a final proposal later, according to a communique from the Chief Minister’s Office.

Draft proposal

The draft proposal was submitted in response to an initiative from the Ministry, which had sought the views of the Western Ghats States to notify the ESA in the mountain ranges.

The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report and the subsequent High-Level Working Group report on Western Ghats had evolved as socially and politically sensitive issues in the State with a section of the Church and most political parties opposing the recommendations. The State governments had been treading with caution on ESA notifications fearing that any wrong move would lead to a political backlash in the hill districts of the State.

Though the Kasturirangan panel had identified 59,940 sq km as ESA for Kerala, an expert committee appointed by the State government had recommended limiting it to 9,993.7 sq km, which included 9,107 sq km of forest and 886.7 sq km of non-forest areas. The draft ESA notification issued by the Ministry on July 31, 2024 went by the recommendations of the State to limit the ESA to 9,993.7 sq km though the number of villages that came under the ambit of the ESA went up to 131 from the earlier 123, the Chief Minister’s Office pointed out.

The increase in the number of villages was due to the formation of new villages in the State by dividing the earlier ones. There is no increase in the extent of the proposed ESA. The State further reduced the extent of ESAs after considering reports from the districts, according to the government.