Fear revisits residents of Western Ghats
Farmers in Karnataka's Shivamogga district are protesting against a draft notification that would designate parts of the Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area. The protesters are demanding a physical survey to exclude cultivated land and human settlements from the protected zone.
Why it matters
The conflict illustrates the ongoing tension between environmental conservation efforts and the livelihoods of local agricultural communities in India.
On August 29, hundreds of farmers from Hosanagara taluk in Shivamogga district marched about nine kilometres from the Ganesha temple at Karanagiri to Hosanagara town, protesting against the latest draft notification proposing to declare large parts of the Western Ghats an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). Farmers across Shivamogga and neighbouring districts in the Malnad region are planning similar protests in the coming days. Their central demand is that the Karnataka government conduct a physical survey of the land and exclude human settlements and cultivated areas from the proposed ESA boundaries.
The chain of events that led to this notification began with another march nearly four decades ago — one that set out to save the Western Ghats.
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