Context: Twelve years after issuing its first draft notification, the Central Government is preparing to finalize and notify Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) across portions of the Western Ghats.
About The Western Ghats:
What It Is?
- The Western Ghats is an ancient, highly fragile mountain chain that forms one of the world’s eight hottest biodiversity hotspots. Recognized globally for its exceptional levels of endemism and unique ecosystems, the mountain range has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Location and State Spread:
- Geographical Axis: The hill ranges extend continuously along the western coast of India, running from the mouth of the Tapti River in the north down to the country’s southernmost tip.
- State Boundaries:
- The Western Ghats span across six Indian states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
- It covers a total geographical footprint of approximately 180,000 square kilometers, representing just under 6% of India’s total land area.
Key Geological and Ecological Features:
- Mountainous Topography: The range features an undulating terrain with low hills, steep structural escarpments, and high-altitude granitic ridges. It includes key sub-landscapes like the Nilgiris Eastern Ghats Landscape and the Wayanad plateau.
- The Shola Ecosystem: Features the unique shola ecosystem, which consists of montane grasslands interspersed with patches of tropical wet evergreen forest. These patches host numerous medicinal plants and rare genetic resources.
- Massive Biological Reservoir: While covering a small percentage of India’s landmass, the region contains more than 30% of all plant, fish, herpeto-fauna, bird, and mammal species found in the country.
- High Endemism Metrics: The Ghats exhibit extreme levels of biological isolation; 50% of India’s amphibians and 67% of its fish species are completely endemic to this single region.
- It serves as an exclusive habitat for threatened endemics like the Nilgiri tahr and the lion-tailed macaque.
- Contiguous Wildlife Blocks: The range forms one of the largest contiguous blocks of healthy forest cover in Southern India, supporting 30% of the world’s Asian elephant population and 17% of the world’s existing tigers.
Significance:
- The Western Ghats feed major rivers such as the Godavari, Krishna, and Cauvery, while also playing a crucial role in regulating the Indian monsoon.
- Nearly 245 million people depend on Western Ghats rivers for drinking water, irrigation, agriculture, and livelihoods across peninsular India.
- ESA notifications provide legal backing to restrict mining, quarrying, polluting industries, and large townships in ecologically sensitive areas.
