KWF urges for special recommendation for Western Ghats

KWF urges for special recommendation for Western Ghats

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Nov 16, 2013: In view of the directions issued by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) prohibiting mining and all RED category Industries within 4,089 villages in the Western Ghats across 6 South Western States and notifying it as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA);

 

The Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation welcome this important step taken by the Central Govt which has the following immediate and long term implications for the conservation of the Western Ghats.

 
For Conservation:

·   1      The direction permanently closes the issue of any possibility of revival of mining in Kudremukh, Kemmannagundi and other parts of the Ghats - we highly commend the action taken by the CentralGovernment regarding this.

·   2      All Power Generation Projects are in RED Category. Hence, Gundia Hydro Electric Project (1X200MW) in PHASE1 (against which KWF has been campaigning against for many years) and the series of minihydel projects penetrating deep inside the forests of Western Ghats cannot be implemented under the latest direction – and we welcome this.

·   3      New Highway Projects will not be allowed through the Western Ghats as per the notification of red category Industries by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).

·      4   It also closes the option of converting the abandoned Kudremukh mining township for tourism purposes - ’All 3 star and above category Hotels, including Hotels with 100 rooms and above will not be allowed to be established in the notified villages of Western Ghats in Karnataka State.’

·     5   Most importantly, the direction gives a clear definition for the term ’Western Ghats’ which did not have a clear legal or administrative sanctity from the government till date. This will help environmentalists to approach various forums to fight against emerging threats to the ecologically sensitive area due to ill planned development activities in the notified villages of the Western Ghats. 1,537 villages are notified as Ecologically Sensitive Areas in the State of Karnataka (i.e. 37.5% of the total villages notified across the Western Ghats Range).

·   6     Adaptation of Dr. Kasturirangan’s report for a refined notification of Western Ghats at village level is commendable and is better than Prof. Madhav Gadgil’s report which had recommended a larger area of Taluk level for the notification – this would have unnecessarily provoked the people living outside the Western Ghats but were falling within the same Taluk.


The present direction of Western Ghats by MoEF might need to be refined further to Survey Number level in the coming years for the directions to be implemented more practically.
 

Loop holes in the directions:

 Ironically, the preamble of MoEF’s direction starts with - the intent of the notification being ’to protect the Western Ghats which is the source of several major rivers’. Surprisingly, there is no effort to stop the destruction of the very source of the rivers from activities caused due to large scale manipulation/ exploitation of WATER, which is presently one of the biggest threat to the Western Ghats !!

 
Shockingly, there is no mention of any prohibition on large scale alteration or obstruction to the natural flow of water which is sustaining the biodiversity in the ecologically sensitive area of the Western Ghats.
 

There is no mention of prohibition on River Diversion Projects (like the Nethravathi River Divesion) or Irrigation Projects within the notified villages of the Western Ghats. Prof Madhav Gadgil had clearly recommended a ban on any Large scale Dam Project within the Western Ghats.

We urge the government to prohibit any new large scale alteration or obstruction to natural flow of water within the forests of Western Ghats. Water as a resource should be tapped/ exploited only after it has naturally flowed downstream beyond the sensitive areas of the Western Ghats, the natural landscapes and natural water flow in the Western Ghats should be preserved with great care for our water security.