Fwd: ESA Village is a farmer's safe refuge - We want ESA ! - Add all landslide susceptible zones to ESA
Mayank Rungta
From: Meera Rajesh <meera....@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Sept 2024, 10:40
Subject: Fwd: ESA Village is a farmer's safe refuge - We want ESA ! - Add all landslide susceptible zones to ESA
To: Mayank Rungta <mr....@gmail.com>
From: United Conservation Movement <unitedconserv...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 20, 2024, 12:29
Subject: Fwd: ESA Village is a farmer's safe refuge - We want ESA ! - Add all landslide susceptible zones to ESA
To: Meera Rajesh <meera....@gmail.com>
INSTRUCTIONS
Copy and paste the text below to your email and send it to esz...@nic.in
or take a print of the same and speed post it to ministry at the address given below
Send it on or before Friday, 27 September, 2024
_____________________________________________
ESA Village is a Farmer’s safe refuge - We want ESA!
To,
The Secretary
Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex
Jor bagh Road, Ali Ganj, New Delhi-110003
WHAT WE AGREE in ESA draft SO 3060 (E) dated 31-Jul-2024
We are pleased that after more than a decade, the MoEFCC has come out with the draft ESA notification SO 3060(E) as on 31-Jul-2024 :
We are happy to see that the draft ESA notification SO 3060 (E) has also clarified below critical points in page 153
All existing health care establishments can continue in Eco-Sensitive Area and proposed Primary Health Centres established as per laws and regulations.
No restriction in change in ownership of property.
No restriction on repair or extension or renovation of existing residential houses in the Eco-sensitive Area as per prevailing laws and regulations.
Apart from the above, we are happy to understand that below activities can continue in ESA villages:
Ongoing agriculture and horticulture commercial cropping / plantations
Use of chemical fertilizers including bordeaux mixture for pepper crop
Construction and repair of residential houses of people who are currently living in these villages.
Vehicular movement, including for commercial purposes.
Use of any colour paints for homes, instead of falsely claimed green paints only.
Running of hospitals and healthcare centres.
Sand mining is allowed in the non-ESA villages within the Taluks and other districts of Western Ghats.
The above points ensure that the fear of farmers are allayed in the local context to Western Ghats.
We are happy that finally the following activities will be prohibited from all ESA villages in Western Ghats:
Mining, quarrying and sand mining
New Thermal power plants
Highly polluting red category industries
Some examples of red category industries (prohibited list):
Hazardous Waste Recycling
Airports and Commercial Air Strips
Ports/Harbours/Jetties
Cement Plants
Nuclear Power Plants
Big Hotels and Resorts having overall waste water generation @ 100 KLD and more.
Pharmaceutical companies
Pulp & Paper industry
Sugar Mills
Mining and quarrying are triggering landslides all along the Western Ghats. Kerala State is an ideal example of how the state supported quarrying is triggering landslides killing scores of people in Idukki, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kozhikode districts. With over 3000 quarries all along the Western Ghats in Kerala, the state has become the cradle of man made landslides.
In Karnataka, Kodagu has also seen similar landslides in 2018 and 2019 that impact the right to life and livelihoods of local people. Any quarrying / mining / large scale projects in these fragile hill slopes will adversely impact the people living along the slopes. We agree that all these activities be prohibited in the ESA villages of Western Ghats.
OBJECTIONS in ESA draft SO 3060 (E) dated 31st Jul 2024
Buildings above 20,000 Sqm, 50 Ha townships / 1,50,000 Sq m constructions.
We do not agree with the lower limit of 20,000 Sq m for building and constructions. This needs to be reduced further to 5000 Sqm. There is no scientific basis of 20,000 Sq m in fragile hills and slopes.
Our traditional structures are not more than 200 Sqm and it has withstood the test of times during rains and is safer for our hill slopes and people living in the foothills of fragile mountains.
Our homes are no bigger than 200 sq.m. We do not need any construction beyond 5000 sqm. that convert our hillsides and paddy fields into townships, expressways, large malls, railway lines, hydroelectric power projects,and villaments for the urban need to be banned completely.
We do not want townships and large expansion projects that are converting our agriculture lands, paddy fields, coffee estates. This will impact the water security and food security of the region and invite a lot of non natives causing imbalance in our social structure.
Hence the below point needs to be amended as below :
(d) Building,construction, township and area development projects.-All new and expansion projects of building and construction with built up area of 5000 square metres and above and new and expansion townships and area development projects and conversion of agriculture land shall be prohibited and there shall be no restriction on repair or extension or renovation of existing residential houses in the Eco-sensitive Area as per prevailing laws and regulations.
New hydro power projects need to be in the prohibitory list considering the number of such projects that have caused large scale dislocation of people and loss of agricultural lands. Several such projects along the Western Ghats are yet to settle people who have lost their homes and lands. Hence New hydro projects shall be under prohibition list.
All linear projects including large-scale widening of highways through hilly terrain beyond 8m shall be in the prohibition list to follow the principle of avoidance against landslides. Unscientific widening of fragile hill slopes are one of the primary causes of landslides.Moreover, these highways are of no value to local people since these roads are used for high speed car and truck traffic that connects coastal cities to inland cities.
For Karnataka, only 33% of the total number of villages in Western Ghats fall within the ESA. There are several villages that need to be included in the ESA list. Of the total area (20,668 Sq Kms) recommended by the committee, 16,632 Sq Kms is already under protection either as protected areas, notified forests or ESZ. Many villages that are ecologically sensitive need to be added into this list of ESA villages.
For Kerala, only 8% (886.7 SqKm) of the total area of ESA declared 9993.7 Sq Km falls outside forest land. Rest is forest land that is protected under Forest Conservation Act 1980. This means the Kerala notification is not taking a large area of landslide susceptible zones under ESA and risking many more lives to quarry induced landslides.
The ESA villages listed in the draft notification SO 3060 E dated 31st Jul 2024 do not include 70% of the land area that are ecologically sensitive in Western Ghats and we demand inclusion of more villages as ESA.
The Western Ghats Experts Ecology panel under Dr.Madhav Gadgil leveraged these parameters and defined 64% of the total area of Western Ghats as eco-sensitive area where activities like mining, quarrying and polluting industries were suggested to be prohibited.Under the Chairmanship of Dr. Kasturirangan, a High Level Working Plan was constituted and the eco-sensitive areas were reconstituted in proposal, significantly reducing it to 37% against the Gadgil committee’s recommendation of 64%. The current ESA draft is a further dilution of land area under ESA in Western Ghats and hence has included only the already protected areas of forest lands. This doesn’t serve the purpose of protecting lives and livelihoods of locals who are predominantly living outside forest lands.
In essence, adding more villages under Eco Sensitive Area ensures greater protection of our life and hence it becomes a farmer’s safe refuge.
Additional objections : Voice of people of Western Ghats
Stop ecologically destructive activities like mining and large infrastructure projects (highways widening and railway lines) that could irreversibly damage the Western Ghats and impact the well-being of our future generations. In a small district like Kodagu with 4100 Sq Km, we do not need 5 national highways widening and 2 railways that are planned to serve the State of Kerala.
Prohibit highly polluting industries like the Union Carbides, Unilevers, and Sterlites operating in our Western Ghats that can drain and contaminate our sources of drinking water to locals and millions of people living downstream. Also ensure there is better riparian buffer protection for all rivers in the Western Ghats.
Prohibit unscientific and illogical large power projects like Sharavathy/ Varahi pump storage plants and nuclear power plants that could completely decimate our beautiful Kaans and Myristica swamps, and pollute our underground water systems, which are the sources of drinking water for many generations to come.
Ban Land conversion of Plantation lands and Paddy fields for commercial purposes such as township, Villas, Gated communities, weekend homes, resorts etc which leads to Urbanization in Western Ghats. Unscientific land conversion is leading to landslides in western Ghats .
Ban exotic and detrimental monocultures like Palm, Acacia and Eucalyptus plantations in Western Ghats that destroy our paddy lands, forests and trigger man-animal conflicts. Invasive species, blocking animal corridors for large scale destruction projects are triggering human animal conflicts.
Prohibit river diversion projects like the Yettinahole in the Western Ghats.
Prohibit tunneling of Western Ghats for new roads, railway lines. It is time we learn from the Wayanad landslide of 2024 and ensure landslide susceptible zones are not tampered with.
Additional DEMANDS by the people of Western Ghats:
Govt should translate the ESA draft notification into vernacular languages of Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Konkani, Marathi and Gujarathi and publish it immediately at its own cost.
Special status to natives living in Western Ghats Article 371 (a) like North Eastern States.
Amend Karnataka Land Reforms Act to ban ownership of land in Western Ghats by non natives.
ESA notification should have a deterrent clause for denotifying ESA villages but permits notifying new villages into inclusion for ensuring better conservation of ecologically sensitive areas in alignment with Environmental Protection Act 1986.
Inclusion of riparian buffers and water body catchment areas as ESA.
Sewage from cities should be contained within the cities by implementing waste water recycling and biogas digesters. Black and gray water are the primary source of water and soil pollution in Western Ghats.
Ensure nutritional security of people by incentivising local farmers through financial support systems like minimum support price (MSP) and payment for ecological services (PES) for their roles as providers and conservators.
Encourage farmer producer companies that minimize middlemen and maximise income for farmers, while prohibiting contractual farming by companies that treat landowners as labourers on the land for paltry leases.
Increase compensation for human animal conflicts in the ESA villages. Ensure speedy processing through a transparent process.
Ensure paddy land cultivation using traditional varieties of paddy. Support farmers with MNREGA for paddy cultivation.
Encourage bamboo and vetiver cultivation needed for steep slope stabilisation in the Western Ghats hills.
Prepare building rules specific to hill districts, to ensure buildings on the slopes are secured from landslides.
Sensitize Deputy Commissioners and Tashildhars regarding importance of biodiversity in the Western Ghats so that they don't commit mistakes while awarding land conversions.
Adherence to the principle of sustainable development is a constitutional requirement. Villages of Western Ghats need to be designated as a Eco-sensitive Area to avoid their futures being compromised for the sake of large destructive projects like mines, townships and highly polluting industries. An ESA village is a safe village for the farmers and its people. We appeal to the higher sense among the public and the policy makers necessary to promote continued land use in a fair and intergenerationally equitable manner.
Regards,
With Hope and Determination,
