Two panels with similar objectives, but differing recommendations on the ecological sensitivity of the Western Ghats! The latest high-level working group (HlWG) on the Ghats has revived hopes for two controversial hydroprojects proposed in the region.
In its report submitted to Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan on Wednesday, the 10-member HlWG, headed by Dr K Kasturirangan (Planning Commission member), has slashed the ecologically-sensitive zone of these bio-diverse mountains to just 37 per cent.
The earlier Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) had recommended that the entire Western Ghats should be declared ecologically-sensitive area and that hydroprojects in Karnataka's Gundia and Kerala's Athirapally should be scrapped.
The Kasturirangan panel, however, said that based on the revaluation and collection of data on ecological flow, the Kerala Government could take forward the Athirappally proposal, "if it so desires, with the Ministry of Environment & Forests".
With regard Gundia Hydropower Project, the panel said it has not proposed complete ban on construction in the ecologically-sensitive area but "it has recommended conditions that balance the needs of energy with environment."
The committee recommended that the Karnataka Government should reassess the ecological flow in downstream areas, based on a thorough evaluation of hydrological regimes in the area. "The project should not be given the go-ahead till such a review and reassessment is made," it said.
Though soft on the hydro-projects the panel, nevertheless, stated that about 60,000 sq kms of Western Ghats across the States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu come under the "prohibitory regime on those activities with maximum interventionist and destructive impact on the environment".
The 10-member HlWG Working Group consists of environmental experts and other professionals as its members. It was constituted in August 2012 by the Ministry of Environment & Forests to examine the large number of public responses received on the recommendations of the Gadgil report and to suggest the way ahead.
The report has drawn upon the basic framework suggested by the WGEEP to use remote sensing technologies for demarcation of the ecologically sensitive areas of the Western Ghats - but with two key differences.
First, it used satellite data, down to 24 m resolution as against 9 km used by WGEEP. This finer resolution was possible because of the collaboration with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC/ISRO), which used datasets to distinguish vegetation types over the landscape of the entire Western Ghats.
Second, the report distinguished between the cultural and the natural landscape of the region. Using remote sensing technology, it found that the cultural landscape — which includes human settlements, agricultural fields and plantations — covers 58.44 per cent of the region.
The natural landscape ranges over the remaining 41.56 per cent. The methodology adopted by NRSC/ ISRO has then combined spatial information generated on vegetation types with species level information, biological richness and disturbance regimes - to identify the biologically diverse and contiguous regions of the Western Ghats.
The report further said, "Environmentally sound development cannot preclude livelihood and economic options for this region... the answer (to the question of how to manage and conserve the Ghats) will not lie in removing these economic options, but in providing better incentives to move them towards greener and more sustainable practices."