The Supreme Court order to maintain a buffer zone of one km as Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) along the perimeter of wildlife sanctuaries and National parks, thereby disallowing human habitation in these areas has created apprehensions among the people residing in the hill districts of Kerala. The CM’s statement that the people residing in these regions shall not be evicted and that the SC order too shall be followed, has confounded the people to no end and have left them wondering how both will go hand in hand. If the restrictions as per the SC order comes into effect, it will adversely affect the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of farmers who live near these forest areas. There are 24 zones in Kerala that have been categorised as Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks. The final notification regarding the ESZ categorization of most of these zones are yet to come out.

Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture clarified that the ESZ restriction will not negatively impact agriculture in these regions. However, the farmers in these regions are apprehensive that if the SC order comes into effect, restrictions will be imposed on agricultural activities too. It is quite illogical to compare Kerala that has a high population density with other Indian states. The process of demarcating ESZ by evicting the local population can snowball into a law-and-order situation.

When all is said and done, the fact remains that if the lap of the Western Ghats is not protected, a natural eviction process is in the offing. Environmental experts opine that the oft-repeated natural calamities like landslides and floods are the effects of human activities like indiscriminate deforestation, illegal mining and other construction activities in the ecologically fragile regions.

The government should ideally maintain the status-quo in the human inhabited areas that would come under ESZ. At the same time, it should ensure that once a final decision has been agreed upon regarding ESZ, it should not be breached at any cost. A policy that is equally beneficial to the people as well as to the environment should be envisaged. The government should make use of facts and figures to strike a balance, whereby concessions can be given to the hill districts with due regard to the SC order. It is the onus of the government to quell the anxieties of these hill districts.

The announcement made by the Union minister of Environment and Forest, Bhupender Yadav that the SC order is impractical and that a review petition would be filed has allayed the woes of these hill districts for the time being. The protection of the Western Ghats is not just the concern of the Central Government. It is integral to the existence of our state.