This is why the Supreme Court’s June 3 direction regarding Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZs) in Kerala is controversial.
This is why the Supreme Court’s June 3 direction regarding Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZs) in Kerala is controversial.
the story So Far: On 7 July, the Kerala state assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the central government to exclude the state’s human settlements, agricultural land and public institutions from the purview of Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZs), which were recently was recently notified by the Supreme Court. Around all the protected forests of the country.
The assembly also called upon the Center to notify the areas by considering the proposals of the state government, wherein ESZs were marked as void as around 10 protected areas in the state, asking the central government to enact a law for the purpose. urged.
What is controversial ESZ notification in Kerala?
A June 3 direction by a three-judge SC bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and Aniruddha Bose, there should be a mandatory ESZ of minimum one kilometer measured from the demarcated boundary of every protected forest, including national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. , has raised hornet nests in Kerala, where any regulatory mechanism on land and land use patterns would have political implications.
Dried trees in a cardamom plantation at Thondimala near Mathikettan Shola National Park in Idukki district.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had in December 2020 notified the draft ESZs of 20 out of 23 protected areas in the state while issuing the final notification of Mathiketan Shola National Park. However, the draft notification of Periyar Tiger Reserve is yet to be published, though the state government had submitted the proposal earlier, and the state is yet to submit the draft ESZ of the newest Karimpuzha Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, located in Malappuram district.
What is worrying for the state is the potential impact of the Supreme Court order on its unique scenario. About 30 per cent of Kerala is forested and the Western Ghats occupy 48 per cent of the state. In addition, it has a network of lakes and canals and wetlands and a 590-km-long coastline, all governed by a series of environmental protection and conservation laws, leaving little for its 35 million population to live in. With an average population density of 900 persons per square kilometer, much higher than the national average, Demographic pressure on available land The state is unusually high, as mentioned in the resolution of the state assembly.
The state government fears that the Supreme Court’s notification may worsen the situation on the ground as it will adversely affect the interests of the state as well as affect the lives of lakhs of people living near the protected areas.
How did the state’s earlier efforts to draft ESZ notifications go?
Earlier, while drafting ESZ notifications for their protected areas including Malabar, Idukki, Aralam, Kottiyur, Shendurni and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuaries, The state government had taken care to boycott Areas with high population density, government and semi-government institutions, and public institutions are out of the purview of the notification. The marking of ESZs for protected areas sharing forest boundaries with neighboring states was a peaceful affair as there was no human habitation in between.
However, the recent order of the apex court has changed the picture and forced the state government to revisit the ESZs of at least 10 protected areas, which were earlier marked as void.
What has been the reaction to the instructions?
The apex court’s order comes a decade after the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report aka the Gadgil report had fundamentally affected the socio-political, economic and ecological narrative in the state. However, the ESZ notification has also triggered statewide protests, not to the level of high-level public unrest and protests witnessed by the state in the days before the WGEEP report. As was the case in the days following WGEEP, a section of the Church has come out openly against this notification. Church groups have also demanded withdrawal of the top court’s order.
The Bishop of Palakkad, Mar Peter Kochupurakkal, inaugurating the farmers’ march to the Collectorate under the banner of Samyukta Krishak Sanrakshan Samiti, demanding amendment in the rules of the Ecologically Sensitive Area, in Palakkad on Tuesday. , photo credit: Mustafa KK
The Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, a powerful body catering to the special needs of apostates in the state, termed the apex court’s decision as unfortunate as it feared that the order would disturb the lives of thousands of settlers, farmers and forest dwellers. . edge. The forum feared that the order would effectively turn four lakh acres into buffer zones around 23 wildlife sanctuaries in the state, affecting around 1.5 lakh families.
Since June 3, both the ruling Left Front and the opposition have gone on strike in the hill districts of the state to protest the Supreme Court’s direction.
What next for Kerala?
Kerala is pinning its hope on this Centre’s stand that it is ready to discuss its concerns with the state government. The State Government has also decided to explore the option of approaching the Central Empowered Committee as directed by the Supreme Court in its order to explain the stage of the need to maintain zero ESZ in areas of human habitation. It may approach the top court seeking exemption from the one kilometer ESZ regime and limiting it to zero, wherever necessary.