Report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel Part I. : 1.

Opinion
   07/09/2018
              1385

Report of the Western Ghats
Ecology Expert Panel
Part I

Submitted to
The Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Government of India

31 August 2011

Report of the WGEEP 2011

( WESTERN GHATS ECOLOGY EXPERT PANEL REPORT )

Panel Members :

Prof. Madhav Gadgil Chairman
Shri B.J. Krishnan Member
Dr. K.N. Ganeshaiah Member
Dr. V.S. Vijayan Member
Prof. (Ms.) Renee Borges Member
Prof. R. Sukumar Member
Dr. Ligia Noronha Member
Ms Vidya S. Nayak Member
Dr. D. K. Subramaniam Member
Dr. R.V. Varma
Chairman, Kerala State Biodiversity Board
Member (ex-officio)
Chairman, National Biodiversity Authority
(NBA)
Member (ex-officio)
Prof S.P. Gautam
Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB)
Member (ex-officio)
Dr. R.R. Navalgund
Director, Space Application Centre (SAC)
Member (ex-officio)
Dr. G.V. Subrahmanyam
Advisor (RE), Ministry of Environment &
Forests, Government of India, New Delhi
Member-Secretary (ex-officio)

Report of the WGEEP :-

1. Preface -

India is remarkable for the deep and abiding concern demonstrated by its people and its
successive Central, State and local Governments towards halting the rapid pace of
degradation of the environment. Our country has been a pioneer in the area of integrating
the needs of development with the desire to protect the environment, as reflected in the
emphasis on sustainable development as a key feature of the development strategy of the
nation since the Fourth Five Year Plan of the country in the early 1970s. The constitution of
the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel by the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the
Government of India is yet another reflection of the seriousness with which our country
views these significant challenges.

The Western Ghats are naturally an important focus of sustainable development efforts. The
protector of the Indian peninsula, the mother of the Godavari, Krishna, Netravathi, Kaveri,
Kunthi, Vaigai and a myriad other rivers, Kalidasa likens the Western Ghats to a
charming maiden; Agastyamalai is her head, Annamalai and Nilgiri the breasts, her hips
the broad ranges of Kanara and Goa, her legs the northern Sahyadris. Once the lady was
adorned by a sari of rich green hues; today her mantle lies in shreds and tatters. It has
been torn asunder by the greed of the elite and gnawed at by the poor, striving to eke out a
subsistence. This is a great tragedy, for this hill range is the backbone of the ecology and
economy of south India.

Yet, on the positive side, the Western Ghats region has some of the highest levels of
literacy in the country, and a high level of environmental awareness. Democratic
institutions are well entrenched, and Kerala leads the country in capacity building and
empowering of Panchayat Raj Institutions. Goa has recently concluded a very interesting
exercise, Regional Plan 2021, of taking inputs from Gram Sabhas in deciding on land use
policies. Evidently, the Western Ghats constitutes an appropriate region of the country to
attempt to make the transition towards an inclusive, caring and environment-friendly
mode of development.

It is therefore with tremendous enthusiasm that the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel has
approached its appointed task. The Panel embarked upon the assignment through a multipronged
strategy which included (i) compilation of all readily available and accessible
information on the Western Ghats, (ii) development of a geospatial database on ecological
sensitivity for the entire Western Ghats region which would provide a multi-criteria decision
support system for demarcation of ecologically sensitive areas, and (iii) comprehensive
consultations with principal stakeholders which included civil society groups, government
officials, and peoples’ representatives, ranging from members of Gram Panchayats and Zilla
Parishads to MLAs and MPs.

It is noteworthy that in all these endeavors special effort was made to have wide-ranging
discussions with complete transparency. All the information generated by the Panel
including the geospatial database is publicity available through a dedicated website created
for the Panel.

During the course of the last one and half years, Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel has
had fourteen Panel meetings wherein the Panel deliberated at length on various issues
related to the Western Ghats region. The detailed minutes of all these meetings are available
on the Ministry’s website. These meeting were interspersed with brainstorming sessions,
public consultations and field visits. The central stream of thought was to develop a sound
scientific methodology/basis for arriving at decisions, with these decisions deliberated upon
by adopting a participatory approach.

The report embodies among other things (i) categorization of the Western Ghats into three
zones of varied ecological sensitivity, based upon careful analysis done by WGEEP, (ii)
broad sectoral guidelines for each of these zones, and (iii) a broad framework for
establishment of the Western Ghats Ecology Authority.

In this endeavor, the Panel has utilized the expertise of a number of people and
organizations to whom the panel expresses its gratitude. The Panel thanks the Ministry of
Environment and Forests, Government of India, for giving it this unique opportunity to be
part of a very significant initiative directed at conserving the natural heritage of the Western
Ghats – a global biodiversity hotspot.

To be continued ..

JAIHIND

VANDEMATHARAM