KOCHI: Three years of intense rainfall, devastating floods and deadly landslides. Climate change has made Kerala vulnerable to extreme weather events. The monsoon has become more erratic and Kerala’s rainfall pattern is witnessing a drastic change.
And it seems Kerala has not learned its lessons from the past disasters. The state has been lobbying with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, (MoEF&CC) seeking relaxations in the norms put forth for protection of the Western Ghats.
Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal has approached Union minister for MoEF seeking to demarcate the Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) in the Western Ghats excluding areas with human habitations.
“Climate change has led to intense rainfall and we can expect more natural disasters in the coming years. By allowing hazardous activities in the Western Ghats we are contributing to disasters. Our report had recommended a decentralised approach by giving the local population a say in development. But the government has ignored it. We should empower the people at the grassroot level as they bear the brunt of natural disasters,” said ecologist Madhav Gadgil.
“The lobbying to reduce the Ecologically Sensitive Areas point to the fact that we have not learned from the disasters. The removal of non-core area from ESA will lead to unbridled construction and quarrying activities in the Western Ghats. This will trigger more landslides,” said environment activist C M Joy.
Refuting the allegations, Kerala Independent Farmers Association (KIFA) chairman Alex Ozhukayil said there is no scientific proof to the argument that quarrying triggers landslides. “Kerala has 29.65% forest cover and 54% tree cover. Though this is healthy, some people are imposing environment laws on the farmers, which is affecting our livelihood. Most of the 123 villages included in the ESA as per Kasturirangan report have high population density. We have pleaded with the government to divide villages into Revenue villages and Forest villages. Only Forest villages should be included in ESA,” he said.
“A total ban on quarrying activities is not practical. Restrictions on quarries will adversely affect infrastructure projects,” said a government official. The state government had in 2018 constituted a panel led by P H Kurian to physically verify and reduce the Ecologically Sensitive Areas recommended by the Kasturirangan Committee.
This is the fourth attempt by the state to dilute the regulations for protection of the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel led by ecologist Madhav Gadgil had in 2011 submitted a report classifying 64% of the Western Ghats spanning over six states into Ecologically Sensitive Zones. The panel had suggested to desist from changing land use pattern and stoppage of diversion of rivers to protect the environment.
The government shelved the report and formed another panel under former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan. The committee diluted the recommendations of Gadgil panel and recommended designation of 37% of the Western Ghats as Ecologically Sensitive Areas. The Kasturirangan panel had recommended ban on activities like mining, quarrying and construction activities in the ecologically sensitive areas. The panel had identified 123 villages in 12 districts as ESAs.
In 2013, the state constituted another panel under State Biodiversity Board chairman Oommen V Oommen. It found that a majority of 123 eco-sensitive villages identified by Kasturirangan panel had a population density of 250 people per sq km. It rejecting earlier panels’ recommendations on demarcating eco-sensitive areas, and suggested conditional permission for quarrying beyond 500 metre from forest boundary.