W Ghats heritage tag: States to be kept in loop

BANGALORE: Following apprehension that they might have to face opposition from the concerned states and the public, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has decided to send the exhaustive report on the Western Ghats region first to the chief secretaries of six respective states linked to the Western Ghats region.As announced earlier by Jagdish Kishwan, additional director general (wildlife), MoEF, during the meeting held at Bangalore, the report prepared by a 14-member Western Ghats Ecology Expert Committee headed by Ecologist Madhav Gadgil, was to be released on Wednesday by the MoEF.“The report outlines an analysis of the impact of World Heritage tag on various environmental domains which includes wildlife, water, agriculture, biodiversity and infrastructure at the Western Ghats,” said an official source from the state Forest Department.Further, the report also recommends measures for the conservation of the Western Ghats.It identifies ecologically sensitive zones, discusses the current patterns of management and identifies strategies for bringing about environmental development in the region.Speaking to Express about the details of the report he said, “The report consists of 80 research papers covering various environmental domains- wildlife, water, soil, agriculture, biodiversity and infrastructure at the Western Ghats.” “The report will be send to chief secretaries of six states linked to the Western Ghats region- Karnataka, Kerela, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa very soon.Three months time will be given to the respective states for providing their responses and recommendations,” he added.Once the report is approved by the concerned state only then will it be released by the MoEF.Within two-three days it will be put up in the public domain in order to get public response, the official said.However, early this year after the controversy and receiving a severe setback, the United Nations World Heritage Committee had delayed its decision to declare the Western Ghats as UNESCO World Heritage Site to 2012 and had asked the government to furnish more information.India had nominated 39 sites in the Western Ghats, a unique hot spot of biodiversity.However, Karnataka - one among the six states touching the Western Ghats, had ran a campaign against the World Heritage tag, arguing that it could protect its own forests and claimed that the tag would prevent development for forest dwellers.