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Kerala fears that the Supreme Court’s Eco-sensitive zone notification will disrupt the lives of millions of people living near protected areas and adversely affect state interests.
Background of the Issue
- June 4: The Supreme Court directed that all protected forests, national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries across the country have a mandatory Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of at least one kilometre starting from their boundary.
- It also stated that no new permanent structure or mining would be permitted within the ESZ.
- If the existing ESZ goes beyond a 1-km buffer zone or any statutory instrument prescribes a higher limit, then such extended boundary shall prevail, the court said.
- The Supreme Court order comes a decade after the Western Ghats Environmental Expert Committee (WGEEP) report, or Gadgil Report, which radically influenced the State’s socio-political, economic and environmental narratives.
- June 18: Union government said they held discussions with the Kerala government and filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court.
- July 7: The Kerala state assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking the central government to exempt human settlements, farms and public institutions in the State from the Supreme Court-notified eco-sensitive zones (ESZ)
Why is the ESZ notification controversial in Kerala?
- What worries the State is the possible impact of the apex court’s order on its unique landscape.
- Nearly 30% of Kerala is forested land, and the Western Ghats occupy 48% of the State.
- In addition, it has a network of lakes, canals and wetlands and a 590 km long coastline, all governed by a series of environmental protection and conservation laws, leaving little space for its 3.5 crore people to occupy.
- The State’s population pressure on available land is unusually high, with an average population density of 900 people per square kilometre, much higher than the national average.
- It will upset thousands of settler farmers and people living on the forest fringes.
- And also feared that the order would effectively turn four lakh acres around the 23 wildlife sanctuaries in the State into buffer zones, thus hitting around 1.5 lakh families.
How did the State’s earlier efforts to draft ESZ notifications go?
- Earlier, while preparing the draft ESZ, the State had taken care to exclude high population density, government and quasi-government institutions, and public institutions from the purview of the notification.
- The marking of the ESZ for the protected areas that shared the forest boundary with the neighbouring States was a peaceful affair as there were no human habitations.
- However, recent order has changed the picture and forced the state government to re-verify the ESZs of at least 10 protected areas earlier marked as zero.
Pic Courtesy: The Hindu
Content Source: The Hindu