Overview
- The Union environment ministry issued a July 25, 2026 draft to implement the Kasturirangan recommendations that would notify large tracts of the Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area with bans on red‑category industries, mining, thermal plants and major projects.
- Karnataka’s assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking for a one‑year physical ground survey and a review to prevent satellite‑only mapping from including farms, plantations, homes and public facilities in ESA boundaries.
- Kerala’s government, led by Chief Minister V D Satheesan, is preparing detailed maps to seek exclusions for inhabited areas and Cardamom Hill Reserve zones and plans to remove residential and agricultural land from the draft.
- Political leaders, local bodies and some gram panchayats have formally objected to the draft as the 60‑day comment period ended on September 24, 2026, while an expert committee continues to collect state inputs before any final notification.
- Environmentalists stress that much of the proposed area is already notified forest and that the rules mainly target polluting industries, but unresolved land‑status issues and demands for financial aid and alternate livelihoods make final boundaries and rules contentious.