Western ghats protection and sustainable development - Challenges ahead

Background: Western Ghats is a mountain range and a UNESCO world heritage site. The Western Ghats is one of the world’s eight hottest biodiversity hotspots. The area is ecologically sensitive to development and was declared an ecological hotspot in 1988. The Government of India has taken several initiatives to protect and save the ecology of the region. The government appointed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel headed by Madhav Gadgil to assess the biodiversity and environmental issues of the Western Ghats in 2010. In 2012 the Kasturirangan committee was appointed to look further into the ecological and sustainable development issues of the region. Both these reports have evoked considerable attention from environmentalists and farmers.