THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the Union government is gearing up to notify eco-sensitive areas (ESA) along the Western Ghats, Kerala plans to approach the Centre again seeking an exclusion of human settlements and agricultural land from the purview of ESA.
The state insists that the Centre notify ESAs in line with the Oommen V report. According to the draft notification, an area of 9,993.7 sq km has been proposed as eco-sensitive area.
In the wake of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) planning to declare ESA villages based on the draft notification, the state government convened a high-level meeting chaired by Environment Minister Sunny Joseph.
The meeting also decided to invite members of the central government-constituted experts panel to the state and discuss the recommendations submitted by the previous UDF government, based on the report prepared by the state-appointed Oommen V Oommen committee which had recommended the exclusion of certain regions from ESAs.
Sunny Joseph told TNIE that Kerala has already accepted the Oommen V Oommen report and hence would urge the Centre to follow the same in-principle.
“According to the Ooommen V Oommen committee report, the MoEF had excluded human settlements and farmlands. We would point out that Kerala has around 30% of its area as forest land and that the state has a high population density.
Hence, there should not be further ESA demarcation. The central panel will visit the state next month. Only after listening to our position should the final notification be issued. The ESA should be in line with what is published in the Kerala Biodiversity Board website,” the minister said.
The meeting also decided to hold talks with the central committee to safeguard the state’s interests while finalising ESA. Chief Minister V D Satheesan will hold another meeting on June 30 with the forest and environment ministers and senior officials to chalk out the next course of action.
“We have recommended to exclude thickly-populated areas, agricultural lands and plantations from ESAs. Instead of cutting down on the number of ESA villages from 123, we chose to exclude certain key regions from the purview of ESA. Now, it has been 12 years since the draft notification.
Our report was unanimously accepted by the state assembly. Later, the previous government decided to ask the Centre to cut the area of ESA further, but that was not approved. The government can now go ahead with our proposal,” Oommen V Oommen said.
The Kasturi Rangan-led High Level Working Group (HLWG) had recommended an area of 13,108.7 sq km in 123 villages in the state to be demarcated ecologically sensitive. However, the state government, after physical verification, excluded an area of 3,114.30 sq km due to agriculture and settlements. The MoEF accepted the proposal and the draft notification was published with an area of 9,993.70 sq km, inclusive of 123 villages.
Later, the previous state government further pointed out that the area under the draft notification constitutes two categories -- forest land constituting 9,107 sq km and a non-forest area of 886.7 sq km. The state proposed to remove the non-forest area of 886.7 sq km from ESA and sought to denote only 9,107 sq km as ESA with 118 villages. However, the proposal has not been cleared yet.
9,993.7 sq km proposed as eco-sensitive area
The state insists that the Centre notify ESAs in line with the Oommen V Oommen report. According to the draft notification, an area of 9,993.7 sq km has been proposed as eco-sensitive area. In this wake, the state government convened a high-level meeting chaired by Environment Minister Sunny Joseph.