Mapping ecologically sensitive, significant and salient areas of Western Ghats: proposed protocols and methodology
Résumé
The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests,Government of India (GOI) has been asked to identify ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs) along theWestern Ghats, and to suggest how to manage them. The concept of ESAs has been extensivelydiscussed in the literature. Several ESAs have been set up in India over the last 22 years under theEnvironment Protection Act, 1986, and a GOI committee under the chairmanship of Pranob Senhas proposed certain criteria for identification of ESAs. However, WGEEP noted that we still lacka global consensus either on the criteria to define ESAs or on a workable methodology to identifythem. Furthermore, there are no clear guidelines on the management regime that should prevailin ESAs, and the Pranob Sen Committee has not addressed this issue at all. Hence, WGEEPdecided to undertake an exercise of defining ESAs and developing a workable methodology toassign levels of ecological significance/sensitivity as a first step towards putting ESAs on the mapof the Western Ghats. This article provides a report on the outcome of a series of discussions andconsultations held by WGEEP to build a consensus on defining and mapping ESAs. It hopes to provoke discussion and feedback from a wider section of experts, with the aim of finalizing ageneric methodology for mapping ESAs in other ecologically significant, biodiversity-rich areaswithin and outside the country. We hope to shortly prepare a companion paper that will address theequally vital management issues.