Last July, the monsoons melted away a large part of the beauteous hills in Kerala’s Wayanad district. The locals could do little except helplessly watch their world reduced to rivers of mud.
The steep slopes lined with high rise buildings and surrounded by land levelled for tree plantations were submerged in the blink of an eye. The rains buried entire villages under the crumbling debris of the mountains of the Western Ghats in Kerala.
Hundreds of lives were lost in the deluge, and those alive were left with a fragile earth beneath their feet. The collapse of the mountains caused roadblocks that proved to be death traps.
Ecologist Dr Madhav Gadgil, 82 recently told The Citizen that nature, life and livelihoods in the Western Ghats can be saved only by the people living there for aeons.
Gadgil has been predicting environmental disasters in the Western Ghats all his life. He suspects that governments are not interested in protecting nature or empowering people in the interest of short term gains for themselves.
Kerala is the country’s most literate state and has a notable tradition of empowering people. It is Gadgil’s plea to the people of Kerala to revive that enlightened spirit of theirs to take better care of the environment.
The only way to keep anti-people trends under check would be to follow a bottom-up process of democratic decision-making, beginning with the gram sabhas and mohalla sabhas. Gadgil advocates that nature can be better conserved by working with, rather than against the people.
On paper one and all agree that an integrated approach to the conservation of biological and cultural diversity is needed. It is realised that the existence of each is inherently linked with the other.
There is growing agreement that cultural landscapes are worthy of protection, where the interaction of humans and nature over time has produced a particular set of natural and cultural conditions. Many action plans have identified issues like the urgency to protect and to prevent the extinction of threatened species.
Urgency has also been expressed for biodiversity protection and for the enhancement of the designated protected area. The calls to reduce the degradation of natural habitats are shrill. However, when it comes to implementing the concerns on the ground, not much good but more harm seems to have been done.
It was not the first time that a killer landslide had attacked the Western Ghats in Wayanad. A similar incident had destroyed populations in 2019 as well.
In recent times the ghat areas of Kerala have been ravaged many times, killing hundreds of people and delivering an overwhelming blow to infrastructure and livelihoods.
Landslides and flash floods had devastated the ghat areas of Konkan in 2021. Cyclones have gained intensity with the warming of the Arabian Sea, leaving the west coast most vulnerable to natural disasters.
Ignorance and the greed of human beings has reduced the ghats into an angry space that is boiling away into destruction, taking with it all the wonder and goodness cradled within its gorgeous ecosystem. Landslides particularly in the Maharashtra ghats have become more frequent today.
In a seminal report, Gadgil had mentioned that illegal quarrying and unscientific developmental activities in ecologically sensitive areas are bound to affect the people living there adversely. Unfortunately, Gadgil’s warnings have not been appreciated enough. The result is an increased frequency of floods and landslides.
The Gadgil Commission was formed by the Ministry of Environment in 2010 to study the impact of population pressure, climate change and development activities on the Western Ghats.
The commission submitted a 552-page report to the Centre in August 2011. The report had recommended that 75 percent of the 129,037 sq km area of the Western Ghats be declared environmentally sensitive because of its dense forests and the presence of a large number of endemic species.
This was found to be controversial, with many states deeming it too restrictive to many development activities. Kerala and Karnataka were particularly opposed to declaring certain areas as ecologically sensitive zones, thereby delaying protection and continuing activities like rock quarrying, mining and the rapid establishment of new industries.
Once the ghats were designated an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA), almost all developmental activities like mining, construction of thermal power plants, and dams were to halt within the area, putting a stop to all money making activities as well.
For Goa, the report recommended an indefinite moratorium on new environmental clearances for mining and the continuation of existing mining only under strict regulation.
In the Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra, no new polluting industries, including coal-based power plants, should be permitted and existing industries should be asked to switch to zero pollution.
It was found that plains and coastal tracts in the ghats were under severe environmental and social stress. The recommendation was to prohibit genetically modified crops and the use of plastic bags within the zone.
No new hill stations should be allowed on the land which should be changed from farmland to non-farm land. The diversion of rivers should also be forbidden to protect the ecology of the region where public lands should not be converted into private lands.
The report also suggested a bottom-to-top approach instead of a top-to-bottom approach in governance of the environment, indicating decentralisation, and more powers to local authorities.
A major recommendation was a ban on growing single commercial crops like tea, coffee, cardamom, rubber, banana and pineapple that lead to the fragmentation of forest, soil erosion, degradation of river ecosystems and toxic contamination of the environment.
It was also recommended that a Western Ghats Ecology Authority under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 be set up as a professional body to manage the ecology of the region and to ensure its sustainable development.
According to environmentalist Bahar Dutt, the Gadgil report is important. Now Dutt would love to see the Central, and state governments work closely together in the interest of all human beings involved and to use the report as a guideline to save the ghats.
About a decade ago, Dutt had spent six months in the ghats meeting people that inhabit one of the world’s hottest hotspots to film the unique biodiversity of the landscape for a television programme titled “Saving India’s Western Ghats”.
In a Toda village it was found that most of the forest people had abandoned their culture and way of life. Was this development? Was this progress, was the question.
In his memoir “A Walk Up The Hill: Living with People and Nature”, Gadgil wrote that he developed a feel for nature early in life. He was very young when his father presented him with binoculars which he used to watch birds.
He had enjoyed visits into the Kodagu forests in Karnataka where he fell in love with wild elephants. He discovered the importance of sacred groves in the midst of forests and it was his anthropologist and sociologist neighbour Iravati Karve who talked to him about the wisdom of science and the equality of all people.
Who was better than environmental scientist Gadgil then to study the Western Ghats formally? He conducted research under the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP).
He was also one of the members of the Advisory Committee of the inspiring Save the Western Ghats March (SWGM) in 1987-88 and had presented a follow-up plan in a post march conference held at Ramnathi, Goa.
The SWGM was a landmark event planned in Goa. In environmental activism it remains unparalleled. In 1986, Goa’s Peaceful Society had organised a 95 day people’s march along the entire length of the Western Ghats, to focus attention on the urgent need to halt the process of degradation threatening the entire area.
The march was a huge success but a lack of follow up activities drowned all the enthusiasm that had built up especially amongst the youth.
In Goa the ghats are called the Sahyadri or the benevolent range. Benevolent, probably because the mountains have been a solid support system for both nature and mankind since eternity.
The ghats are home to high mountain forests that moderate the tropical climate of the region and present one of the best examples of the monsoon system on the planet. They are home to 325 globally threatened flora, fauna, bird, amphibian, reptile and fish species. About 60 percent of the mountain range is in Karnataka.
The ghats is not just a place of breathtaking natural beauty but also a biodiversity zone where many rare and endangered species of life flourish. However, unrestricted mining, quarrying and huge infrastructure projects have endangered the fragile ecology of the region.
The rugged ghats consist of a chain of mountains running parallel to India’s Western Coast for about 1, 600 km and passing through the states of Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The beauty and the importance of the ghats cannot be praised enough. The range influences the Indian monsoon weather patterns that mediate the warm tropical climate of the region.
It acts as a barrier to rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west. The significance of the ghats are countless.
They are a gateway to dancing peacocks and swinging monkeys. Numerous rivers and waterfalls dot the lush landscape of the ghats covered in tropical evergreen forests. It is home to 325 globally threatened species.
Whatever happens to the ghats affects the life of about 50 million people who live in the area where existence is threatened today by anti-people development activities and rapid urbanisation.
Agriculture expansion and livestock grazing pose a serious threat to the region along with forest loss, land fragmentation, habitat degradation by invasive plant species while encroachment and conversion continue to disturb the ghats with shrinking wildlife corridors.
Industries, quarries, mines, more roads, highways and townships planned in the future will further damage the already fragile landscape of the region, warn environmentalists at a time when global warming is making its presence felt in the most acute way.
The ghats are an ideal haven for many species of birds and animals and also provide a corridor for migration. The Sahyadris extend for a total of 600 km in Goa and the widest belt of forests is also in Goa and in neighbouring Karnataka.
There are several plants and trees unique to Goa, while some were introduced by the Portuguese. The most famous is the green chilli, which today is an essential ingredient in all Indian food.
Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar wants all power plants, iron and steel, mining, big housing estates banned and the whole of Goa declared an eco-sensitive area. Kerkar would like to see all village panchayats adopt gram sabha resolutions against mining, large-scale housing and large-scale industries. Together with his wife Pournima, the couple has adopted nature as their child.
They want to spend their life protecting the forests, rivers, lakes, mountains, coasts and wildlife in that part of the ghats where Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra meet.
The Kerkars have worked with conservationists to have the Mhadei and Netravali Wildlife Sanctuaries notified. Believing that local communities are vital to the protection of tigers and wildlife in the area, the public supports them in their stand against mining, the destruction of forests, pollution of rivers and the ‘garbageification’ of the sea shores.
Environmentalists regret that ficus, the original natural tree cover, has been replaced with the eucalyptus tree that contributes to the erosion of soil and to natural disaster. It was at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science where Gadgil worked for 33 years, that he learnt the importance of the ficus tree.
Even if an entire forested area is clear-felled, the ficus is spared because it fruits when other trees don’t, and provides year-long fruits and sustenance to insects, birds, bats and monkeys. He was able to back his fascination for elephants with field research while posted in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve for six years.
In the ghats Gadgil discovered sacred groves that are like an oasis in deforested areas today. Sacred groves are as old as the forest itself and continue to protect nature and human beings.
They represent traditional ecological knowledge that balances the use and protection of natural resources. It was believed that disturbing these forest patches would invite the wrath of the spirits to whom they are dedicated.
The religion of the forest people is simple. It is to care for nature. The one way traditional societies had cared and showed their respect for nature was to worship it.
Sacred groves are areas inside forests dedicated to local deities and managed by local communities over centuries and displaying different aspects of the relationship between human beings and nature. Unfortunately, awareness about the cultural and ecological values of the unique ecosystem is on a decline today.
Most groves are considered sacred as they protect water sources. Some have sheltered medicinal plants and the larger sacred groves act as a refuge to breeding animals. In this context, sacred forests represent a classic case of unique ecosystems that have been informally protected and managed by local communities over the course of centuries.
Sacred groves are relict forest patches that are dedicated to local deities and are home to wildlife outside the formally protected areas. India is estimated to have over one hundred thousand such groves scattered all over the country with the size varying from the very tiny to a large tract of land.
They are also known to act as wildlife corridors, especially when found in continuum with the forest cover. They are informally protected and managed by local communities through customary laws and belief systems.
Once sacred groves were found in the midst of an ocean of trees. The destruction of paradise began a few centuries ago when the British decided to keep the lush landscape for their pleasure. Some of those in power who were in favour of cash crops did not want the village communities to manage the forest.
According to tea planters and labourers living in the gorges shifting cultivation was the traditional way of life. This had involved the clearing of the forest to sow, say millets for a few years around economically important trees.
After harvest the cultivator would leave the land for two decades or more to allow the tree cover to grow back while he cleared another patch of land to farm there. According to this practice, the land belonged to everyone.
The British preferred the system of land owned permanently by individuals. The British were more interested in cultivating cash crops like tea and coffee with the help of local farmers who were treated like bonded labour. The timber merchants were allowed freedom to cut trees at will without interference by local communities.
Having studied the history of the ghats, Gadgil wrote his report that concluded that India is concentrating on a kind of development that is anti-people and sub-standard to the extent that it is unable to benefit the majority of Indians or compete in the international market place.
Those in favour of mines and quarries, roads, and buildings on hill slopes of ecologically highly sensitive regions of course continue to disagree with Gadgil to this day. On his part Gadgil too has not given up insisting that without the empowerment and engagement of the forest people all life in the ghats will soon be lost.