Kerala is reeling from deadly landslides triggered by heavy rainfall that have claimed at least 158 lives. About 1,000 people have been rescued after multiple landslides struck the hilly Wayanad district on Tuesday (July 30), sending torrents of mud and water through tea and cardamom estates and small settlements.
Over 180 people were injured in the disaster and hundreds of others are still missing. According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) data, the Wayanad district, which is part of the Western Ghats mountain range, received 140 mm of rainfall between the mornings of Monday and Tuesday, five times its normal precipitation during this period.
The disaster has put focus on the urgent need to notify Western Ghats as an eco-sensitive area (ESA). Let’s take a closer look.
Reports on Western Ghats
The Western Ghats is the second-most vulnerable region to landslides in India after the Himalayas.
It has been over a decade since the first report by the ecologist Madhav Gadgil-led expert panel recommended the demarcation of eco-sensitive areas along the Western Ghats.
The ESAs are regions with fragile ecology due to which human activities, including construction and industries, are regulated to protect the environment, noted Indian Express.
The Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel (WGEEP), chaired by Gadgil, was set up by the Centre to study the environmental sensitivity of the mountain range and the likely impact of climate change in the region.
In 2011, the committee submitted its report, recommending declaring 75 per cent of the 129,037 sq km area of the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive, as per a Hindustan Times (HT) article.
The panel reportedly cited the unique geology, dense forests and a range of endemic species in the region to back its suggestions.
A drone view shows members of rescue teams crossing a temporary bridge to reach a landslide site after multiple landslides in the hills in Wayanad district, in the southern state of Kerala, India, July 31, 2024. Reuters
It also classified 42 taluks across 14 districts in
Kerala as ecologically sensitive zones (ESZ). Most taluks in the Wayanad and Idukki districts were labelled category 1 under ESZ, meaning they were highly vulnerable and forest land in these areas should not be used for agriculture or non-forest activities.
The report led to protests from several states that deemed it too restrictive, leading to the assessment by a second committee, reported HT.
The new panel, led by renowned space scientist Dr K Kasturirangan, released its report in 2013, toning down the recommendations of the Gadgil report.
It identified just 37 per cent of the mountain range as an ecologically sensitive region. The report classified 123 villages as the most vulnerable, of which 48 were in the Idukki district.
The Kasturirangan committee proposed banning mining, quarrying, establishing red category industries and thermal power projects. It also called for studying the impact of infrastructural projects on the forest and wildlife before green-lighting them. The report also proposed banning the construction of buildings and townships above a certain size.
However, the report sparked fear among locals about their livelihood, which was not assuaged by politicians.
Kerala saw protests against these recommendations, prompting the state government to form a three-member expert committee. The state panel proposed physical verification of all 123 villages identified as ESA by the Kasturirangan committee and 120 panchayats demarcated ESZ1 and ESZ II by the Gadgil committee.
“We had demarcated the ESA areas in Wayanad because they are fragile and perilous. The draft memorandum on the ESA to be notified was submitted in 2014. If the government has taken 10 years, what kind of consultative effort is this? The final notification should have been brought out in 2015 itself. Conservation efforts should not be delayed as a lot of damage has already happened in these fragile areas,” Oommen V Oommen, the former chairman of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB), told Indian Express.
The Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad district, which witnessed multiple landslides on Tuesday, was tagged as eco-sensitive area by both panels in 2013.
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Why a consensus is needed
Five draft notifications on the Western Ghats have been passed by the Union environment ministry in the past decade but states have still not reached a consensus.
As per Indian Express, the first draft notification had demarcated over 57,000 sq km across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Goa. However, some of these states are not on board.
Kerala and Karnataka opposed declaring certain regions along the Western Ghats as ESZ, which has delayed the protection of the area. Maharashtra and Goa have called for reducing the extent of ESA within the respective states for development works.
With no ESA protection, several environmentally dangerous activities like massive deforestation for mining and construction have continued over the years, reported Times of India (TOI).
Deforestation and monocropping – growing a single crop every year on the same field – have changed the quality of soil in some areas of the Western Ghats. “If you cut trees, the roots remain and decay, functioning as pipes which take the soil down,” TV Sajeev, a scientist at the Kerala Forest Research Institute, told Scroll in 2022.
Experts say disasters like Tuesday’s landslides could have been prevented by controlled deforestation and adopting sustainable development models in the region affected by climate change.
“The devastating landslides in Wayanad, fuelled by excessive monsoon rains, underscore the urgent need to address the impacts of climate change. Kerala has increasingly suffered from such events, which are closely tied to global warming and climate change, driving irregular and heavy rainfall patterns,” Anjal Prakash, climate change expert and research director, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business (ISB), told TOI.
Prakash suggested “sustainable land management through reforestation, controlled deforestation, and sustainable agriculture” to maintain hillside stability and lessen soil erosion. This would help in controlling the impact of heavy downpours.
“Monsoon patterns are increasingly erratic and the quantum of rainfall that we receive in a short spell of time has increased. As a result, we see frequent instances of landslides and floods along the Western Ghats,” Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, told Associated Press.
An expert panel, headed by Sanjay Kumar, the former Director General of Forest, Environment Ministry, constituted by the environment ministry is currently analysing the issue of finalising a draft notification on the Western Ghats.
It is high time states allow the Western Ghats to be notified as an eco-sensitive area.
With inputs from agencies
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