western ghat: basics to the current issue

Difference between Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats:

Parameter	Western Ghats	Eastern Ghats
Topography	Continuous region	Non-continuous (due to formation of deltas)
River	·         East flowing ·         Fast flowing and thus don’t form any delta ·         Rivers flows into the Arabian Sea	·         West flowing ·         Flows slowly and so forms deltas. ·         Falls into the Bay of Bengal.
Mountain Height	High	Lower
Rainfall	Throughout the year and very high rainfall due to leeward side and near to sea	Seasonal rainfall due to rain-shadow area.
Forest	Evergreen: Tress (Hardwood) like Rosewood, Ebony and Hollywood oak are found	Trees (Softwood) like Teak, Sal, Sesame, Sandalwood are found

Let’s see what history says of Western Ghats:

1. During British era:

·         State took over forest lands, banned shifting cultivation

·         Destroyed forest including sacred groves and sacred species and did large scale teak plantation.

2. After Independence: Two phased exploitation

·         Large scale river and Valley projects and mining

·         Land acquisition and industrialization

Again the same trend many sacred groves felled to meet the industrial requirement. New face but old strategy; British replaced by GOI.

Impact:

·         Loss of forest covers in a decade Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have lost more than 40% of their original forest cover. River valley project leads to submergence of various forest cover.

·         Infrastructure development like Railways, roads etc. led to fragmentation of natural habitat.

·         Increase in population and industrialization, tourism, resorts etc. have further worsened the situation.

·         Now what all of the above will lead to?

o   More pollution.

o   Loss of biodiversity; remember many species in western ghats are endemic and endangered.

o   Soil erosion, land slide, flooding etc.

o   Tribal people have to suffer:

§  Gets exposed to various diseases due to interaction with the outside people and pollution.

§  Migration leads to loss of tribal culture and suffering to the tribes.

·         What if any natural calamity happens like flood, landslide (Although their chances are low and thus chances of getting asked in UPSC)?

o   Increase in population in western ghat clearly indicates the fatality will be higher.

o   Infrastructure in such area means huge economical loss in such situation.

o   Loss of cattles etc

Exotic Species

·         Bad for Biodiversity?

·         Exotic species Belong to some other area/ place / region Endemic species Found in the particular place only. Consider this case: Periyar Lake is one of the biodiversity hotspots of Kerala. Exotic fish species such as Cyprinus carpio have been introduced here for breeding. But their food preference is similar to endemic species= competition for food=endemic fish population affected.

Is Mono monoculture good?

·         Monoculture plantation means growing of just one type of tree in a particular area.

·         A trend largely followed in 80s to compensate for the losses due to deforestation.

·         Demerit:

o   The bio-diversity needs diverse trees to sustain.

o   When the plantation was introduced, the animals, birds, insects started migrating for food and survival.

o   These are also known as “Green deserts”.

o   When used by farmers:

§  Soil erosion

§  Degradation of river ecosystem and toxic of environment.

§  Solution = polyculture/mixed cropping systems.

Positive Part:

·         Infrastructure development means better connectivity which has multiple advantage to both the native people and the outsiders to gain from each other due to increased interaction and also the native people will get access to various facilities like hospitality, education and more job opportunity etc.

·         Tourism sector will get a big boost, which means a good source of income to both the government and the people (brooker, taxi, guide etc).

Analysis: India is a developing country and is naturally endowed with natural resources and keep our self in pace with the world we have to keep developing. But if we carry out such a unsustainable development then imagine who will be there to take benefit of such development! The earth is under threat of global warming. Remember we can only sustain if the world average temperature don’t increase by more than 2 degree by the end of this century and for this we need to reduce the global GHG emission by more than 50% by 2050.

How can we follow the path of sustainable development in Western Ghat or How the ecosystem of the Western Ghat can be safeguarded?

For this let’s understand this:

Gadgil Report:

·         Gadgil recommends that entire Western Ghat should be divided into 3 zones (actually 4)

1. Zone 1                                     Highest protection must be given to them

2. Zone 2                                      Intermediate

3. Zone 3                                      Moderate control and protection.

4. PA Protected Areas            existing Wild Life Sanctuaries and National Parks.

·         No new licenses for mining should be given in Zones 1 & 2 with existing mining in Zone 1 be phased out gradually (5 yrs).

·         No new river project in Zone 1.

·         Power plants – Absolutely no in zone 1 & 2.

·         Transport – avoid such development in zone 1 & 2 as far as possible.

·         Tourism – Strict regulation in all the three zones.

Creation of separate authority (WGEA)

·         Gadgil recommended setting up an autonomous statutory authority Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA) to oversee the conservation of Western Ghats in the 6 states.

·         But state Governments fear that such authority will take away their Decision Making power (and the bribe opportunity that comes with it for granting project approvals!) Therefore, state Governments are against creating WGEA. They say, existing regulatory framework is sufficient to protect the Western Ghats.

Kasturi Rangan Report (Most important): Kasturirangan panel was formed to study and advise govt. on the earlier report of Madhav Gadgil led Wester Ghats Ecology Experts Panel (WGEEP).

Some Facts:

·         Around 37% of the total area defined as the boundary of the Western Ghats is ecologically sensitive comprising the 6 states.

·         It has moved away from the suggestions of the Gadgil panel.

·         The HLWG suggested prohibiting those activities which have the most harmful impact to the environment.

·         Promotion of ecotourism

·         Empower the local population economically and include the local while decision making (including policies)and thus promote inclusive growth.

·         Incentivise green growth in the western ghats: initiate an ecosystem service fund to help villages around the forests and also promote sustainable agriculture.

·         Establish a Decision Support and Monitoring Centre for Geospatial Analysis and supervision of the Western Ghat with its report to be published in public domain.

·         It should be notable that it used satellite data down to 24 m resolution against 9 km used by WGEEP. It also distinguished between the cultural and the natural landscape of the region.