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Need of Declaration of Eco Sensitive Zone in Western Ghats
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Vishwas Mohan (2018, August 27). Six States sitting on edge as draft green norms hang fire https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/six-states-sitting-on-edge-as-draft-green-norms-hang -fire/articleshow/65476498.cms?utm_campaign=andapp&utm_medium=referral&utm source=email_
Article published in - Mumbai - Times of India
Author of the article - Vishwas Mohan, Editor of Times of India Date of Publication - August 28, 2018
The Environment awareness needs to be cultivated in any society, which is identification of an ideal society. Environment means surrounding objects, region or circumstances and the phrase
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Governmental Authorities to protect the remaining ecological areas in India, like Western Ghats, North-Eastern Ghats.
The Centre has prepared a Draft notification to protect the Ecology of the Western Ghats which spreads across the Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Goa. The draft has been sent to the concerned six states for their views or objections before 04 years ago in 2014. The states to include Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had raised an objections and hence the process has been get delayed.
Sustainable Development - “Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs”(International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2018) 1
Western Ghats – Western Ghats also known as Sahyadri is a mountain range that runs parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, located entirely in India. It is chain of mountains which is spread across the States of Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnata, Goa and Gujrat. 2
Ecology- It is a branch of biology which studies the interactions among organisms and their environment. It is a environmental science. 3
Ecological Area – It is a habitat area which, either by themselves or in a network, contribute significantly to an ecosystem’s productivity, biodiversity, and resilience. 4
Ecological Sensitive Zone (ESZs)– Ecological Sensitive Zone or Ecological Fragile Areas are areas notified by the Central Government around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. The purpose of declaring ESZs is to earmark certain areas to become as protected areas by regulating and managing the activities around such area. 5
The Author has made an introduction to the article stating that, the Centre has recognised the need to prevent further degradation of the fragile ecology of Western Ghats. He informed the
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1http://www.iisd.org/topic/sustainable-development (Visited on 16 Sept, 2018) 2http://www.whc.unesco.org (visited on 16 Sept, 2018) 3http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecology (visited on 16 Sept, 2018) 4http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/important_ecological_areas (visited on 16 Sept, 2018) 5http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/ecological_sensitive-zone (visited on 16 Sept, 2018)
present situation of Draft Notification issued by the Centre to protect the Western Ghats. He mentions that, three draft notifications have been issued to the concerned states since March 2014, which is more than four years. The States have raised certain objections on these issues but not resolved and the answer is yet to be found to these objections. Hence, the author blames the Centre in failing to bring six states on board for urgent action to protect ecology of the Western Ghats. Consequently, total 56,825 sq km of ‘ecologically sensitive’ area could not be earmarked as ‘no go’ zone for polluting activities and deforestation. The author states that the Centre has failed to issue prerequisites to save the region from constant environmental degradation and to save the region from floods, occurred due to heavy rainfall.
A. There are certain redeeming features introduced by the Author, as under :-
B. There are certain impediments in the route of implementation said policy in Western Ghats i.e. in six states:-
activities has been proposed. It is therefore proposed to earmark Western Ghats measuring total 56,825 sq km as a ‘Ecologically Sensitive Area’. The total area should be declared as ‘No Go’ zone to protect from the Environmental degradation. It will help to prevent the deforestation, construction of houses or certain operations and prevent certain human activities which are responsible for environmental degradation.
The Author has clearly given the present status and need of environmental protection policy in Western Ghats. The Government has enacted number of provisions or rules to protect the environment. But, these are found insufficient to protect the environment in Western Ghats. However, the author blaming the Centre for everything related to the ecological imbalance is not justified because the states have to take a share of the blame. The States have been very lethargic with the progress on their side and apart from this, there are political issues whenever there are opposite parties ruling the Centre and the state.
The deforestation, uncontrolled human activities are the major problems in the country. The excessive use of the natural resources would cause big problem to the future generations. It is therefore necessary to adopt the policy on sustainable development. It will help to manage the natural resources without compromising the needs of the future generations. However, here too, the states play a major role because they can prevent the damage to the environment by not giving permission for development in these places or planning proper development in these zones. The law and order is a state subject and the states can bring to book the culprits who are involved in destroying the balance of the environment by breaking the rules and bringing development at the cost of the environment.
The protection of ecology of Western Ghats is one of the best example of Sustainable Development. The Western Ghats should be declared as ‘Ecological Sensitive Area’ and necessary set of provisions or rules shall be made applicable to prevent deforestation, to control the human activities, to control the construction works and to protect from all such activities responsible for environmental degradation. If the said policy is successfully enforced in all the states, then it definitely help to preserve the ecology of the Western Ghats. Many problems like Flood, Climate Change, rise in temperature, Loss of Wild Life, Pollution, etc. which are faced by the human, since last few years may be resolved. It is therefore necessary to implement such policies to protect the environment from all types of degradations.
References:- The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 The Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 www.moef.nic.in www.westernghatindia.org
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