Ecologist Madhav Gadgil backs protests against SC ruling on sensitive zones

Order calling for creation of one-km eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around all forest land, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks termed 'unjust and impractical'

Amid widespread protests in Kerala against a Supreme Court order directing all states to create a one-km eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around all forest land, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, ecologists like Madhav Gadgil are now out in support of the agitators, calling the move as ‘unjust and impractical’.

According to protestors, a total of at least 400,000 acres of human settlement and farming area in Kerala will be hit by the move, affecting the lives of lakhs of people in Idukki, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Wayanad. The protests gained national attention when SFI activists attacked Wayanad’s Lok Sabha representative Rahul Gandhi’s office last week for alleged in-action to reduce people’s fears regarding the order.

“This is unjust and impractical. All around, such areas have thick rural settlements and are even urbanised in some cases. It is like giving powers to the forest department to harass people,” Gadgil said, talking about the new direction. He added that wildlife should be protected based on ecological sensitivity levels of each area. Across the country, there are about 106 national parks and 565 wildlife sanctuaries that will get affected by the current regulation.

“The agency to look into this should not be the forest department but local bodies. In the report we also divided it into high, medium and low sensitive areas,” he added. Interestingly, Gadgil had batted for declaring 64 per cent area of Western Ghats under the Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) zones in the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report submitted in August 2011.

It was on June 3 that the top court directed all states to have a one-km mandatory eco-sensitive zone in all the protected wildlife areas. This was while hearing a public interest litigation to protect forest land in the Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu, which means no new permanent structure or mining will be allowed near such areas.  

“Take the case of Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai. On one side you have IIT, and a colony on the other side within a 1 km area. Hence, the direction is not feasible in several parts of the country,” Gadgil added. As per the current rules, eco-sensitive zones are considered as a transition zone between areas requiring higher protection and those with lower protection.

There are experts who believe that the move will not have any impact on the farming community. “There will be no impact on farmers. There is no new restriction coming in place as part of ESZ. This is part of every protected area’s extension and the court just reiterated existing rules,” said P O Nameer, dean of wildlife science department in Kerala Agricultural University.

The Kerala government has already written to Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, asking for a law that will exempt populated areas from the Supreme Court verdict. Rahul Gandhi has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to addressing the concerns of people in the affected areas.