Western Ghats have crossed tipping point, says ecologist Madhav Gadgil. Pune News – Newz9

PUNE: Western Ghats have deteriorated considerably and landslides are solely going to extend, says eminent ecologist Madhav Gadgilwho has labored for over six a long time to preserve India’s ecology and communities, particularly in Western Ghats.
Gadgil was on Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, which in its 2011 really useful that 75% of the area be declared ecologically delicate. However, mining, development and different damaging actions proceed unabated, regardless of growing frequency of landslides just like the one in Wayanad earlier this 12 months, he lamented.
In an interview with TOI on Wednesday, Gadgil mentioned: “They have crossed the tipping point. Many interventions in more sensitive areas that we recommended in our report not to be undertaken, are being extensively put through. We experienced Malin landslide in 2014. More followed – it was Puthumala in Wayanad in 2019, and in Irshalwadi in 2023. Researcher Himanshu Kulkarni’s study shows that from 2010 to 2015, frequency of landslides increased tenfold, and another tenfold in the subsequent five years.”
Gadgil additionally criticized Ok Kasturirangan panel report, which proposed to determine solely 37% of Western Ghats as environmentally delicate, terming it “a perversion of democracy, as it does not consider local communities’ voices in economic policy decisions”. “Union government, in complete letter and spirit, must implement our report that is based on ground facts and scientifically valid, however unpalatable it may be,” he asserted.
Local communities, he burdened, have an necessary function to play “because it is their interests that are badly hurt”, he mentioned, citing the instance of Goa. “I have lived in villages where the local people are paying a heavy price. Their agriculture and fisheries are impacted. They must raise their voices against this.”
“It is clear that those in power are benefitting from quarrying and mining in Goa. The MB Shah Commission estimates the amount of illegal gain made by Goa miners at Rs 27,000 crores. Such people are influencing the state’s policies,” he added.
Asked if destiny of Western Ghats would have been completely different as we speak if elements of his report have been carried out, Gadgil mentioned: “The suggestions we made must immediately be taken on board. Had govt implemented them, the impact would have been substantially reduced. It may not have completely halted the possibility of landslides, but it would have been less.”