Karnataka: The high-pitched screech of saws and the deep rumble of heavy machinery breaks the peace of a green hamlet along the eco-sensitive Western Ghats in Karnataka’s Kodagu district. In 2018, the area was ravaged by landslides. Now, it’s being subsumed into a massive road widening project on NH–275 that will connect Bengaluru to Mangaluru, Kodagu, and parts of Kerala. New resorts and homestays have come up as well.
Everyone has willfully forgotten about the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag awarded to the Western Ghats, said Praveen Bhargav, former member of the National Board for Wildlife. Retaining the tag is not a priority for the Karnataka government. Instead, it rejected a 31 July draft notification—sixth in the last decade—from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to declare large parts of the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs). All notifications, including the recent one issued shortly after the landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad, were either ignored or rejected.
It’s a classic Indian dilemma—ecological conservation versus infrastructure development. A tightrope isn’t always possible.
The Karnataka government wants to build dams and implement water projects in the Western Ghats to address the severe drought problem. It’s also planning resorts for tourists, and bridges, railway lines, and road expansions for faster connectivity. Even a power corporation township is on the cards. All these promises are meant to catapult Karnataka into an economic powerhouse. But they are in direct conflict with the UNESCO heritage tag.
In 2012, part of the Western Ghats located in Karnataka—from Dandeli in the north to Mangaluru in the south, and from the edge of the western coastline to as far as Coorg—was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But for the Karnataka government, the status has become a millstone around the neck. The Wayanad landslides, which claimed over 200 lives, is a reminder of what can happen in Kodagu.
“The heritage tag hasn’t stopped the forest department from taking up infrastructure activities,” said Brijesh Kumar Dikshit, principal chief conservator of forests (Karnataka).
A UNESCO heritage tag comes with the promise of funds, expert advice from the World Heritage Committee to support preservation and conservation activities, and increased tourism.
“But the Karnataka state forest department hasn’t received any funds from the international body for conservation,” claimed Dikshit.
The state feared that the heritage tag would stall various development projects. But even with the tag, it has planned several redundant projects across sensitive zones.
– Praveen Bhargav, former member of the National Board for Wildlife
More pressing is the fragile ecosystem. The landslides in Kodagu and Wayanad are warning bells that state authorities have been accused of ignoring. UNESCO and the Centre’s expert committees have warned of imminent danger to the region’s ecology if conservation efforts are not ramped up.
“The state feared that the heritage tag would stall various development projects. But even with the tag, it has planned several redundant projects across sensitive zones,” said Bhargav, who sat on various expert committees formed by the Union environment ministry.
Tourism booming
Karnataka has benefited immensely from the Western Ghats and the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag. The revenue of the Karnataka Ecotourism Development Board jumped 700 per cent in a year—from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 6 crore in 2023-24.
The tourism sector provides jobs for local people within the homestays and through recreational activities. In 2019, according to Karnataka government statistics, the state’s tourism sector created over 30 lakh jobs. The Kodagu district alone recorded more than 42 lakh tourist footfall in 2023, a jump of almost 73 per cent from the year before. The figure was over 34 lakh in 2018.
“This trend has started increasing only in the last six to seven years,” said Roy Bopanna, an environmental activist and executive director of the Coorg Wildlife Society. He estimates that the Kodagu district received more than 47 lakh tourists this year, way higher than its actual population of 5 lakh. “But Kodagu doesn’t have the carrying capacity to accommodate such heavy tourism inflow,” Bopanna added.
Every weekend, Kodagu, with its coffee plantations and hiking trails along the Western Ghats, gets approximately 1.25 lakh tourists. It’s the “Kashmir of the South,” the “Switzerland of India.”
That came to a grinding and devastating halt in 2018. At least 200 mm of rain per day for three successive days and landslides killed 25 people and washed away over 4,000 homes between 15-17 August. The district had never witnessed a devastation of this magnitude.
“We tried to organise basic food and water for our customers and ourselves. Telecommunication wasn’t fully functional so we didn’t know what was going on,” recalled Aravind Bhatta, a staff member at Holiday Inn resorts in Coorg.
The NH-275 road that the Holiday Inn faces was destroyed and remained closed for 10 months. Now it will be turned into a four-lane expressway as part of the planned expansion project. Already, new recreational structures—including resorts, jungle lodges, and adventure activities—have come up within 10 km of the highway. Coffee plantations are being purchased and converted into private housing sites.
“The tourism industry suffered back-to-back hits with the landslides and the subsequent Covid-19 pandemic-induced restrictions. But it has been picking up and we are expecting more such resorts to come up soon,” said Nagendra Prasad, president of Kodagu Hotel Owners’ Association.
Today, tourism is not just thriving—it’s growing. Prior to the landslide, only 30-40 resorts and 150 hotels were functional, according to data shared by Prasad. Since then, 30 more resorts, 200 more hotels and lodges, and 2,000 unregistered homestays have come up.
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Ongoing and proposed projects
Last month, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated the first phase of the long-awaited Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Supply Project for seven drought–prone districts— Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Ramanagara, and Tumkur. The plan is to lift 24.01 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water, available during the monsoon months, from the Netravati river in Sakleshpur taluk of the Western Ghats. The project also happens to be part of the ecologically sensitive area demarcated in the Union environment ministry’s 31 July draft notification.
Through six notifications issued since 2014, the Centre has sought to declare over 56,800 sq km of the Western Ghats—spanning six states: Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Maharashtra, and Gujarat—as an ecologically sensitive area (ESA). The UNESCO heritage tag already classifies the Ghats as a biodiversity hotspot, a region prioritised for conservation. However, the Centre’s notifications identify specific areas within the region that require stricter environmental protection, including prohibitions on mining, the establishment of new thermal power plants, and large-scale construction projects.
“The Ghats support a population of approximately fifty million people and include areas of high human population density and therefore there is a need to conserve and protect the unique biodiversity while allowing for sustainable and inclusive development of the region. Some parts of the Western Ghats are prone to or highly susceptible to landslide hazards thus requiring special measures of protection and mitigation,” the 31 July draft notification stated, putting the onus on the state governments to implement monitoring mechanisms.
Karnataka has maintained that such a notification would create a ‘hurdle’ for numerous infrastructure projects. Some MLAs have even threatened to resign, calling it unscientific. The state government rejected the latest draft notification, citing opposition from local residents and elected representatives from the 11 districts in the Western Ghats regions, who argue for more development.
“The Karnataka government has already notified and protected 16,632 sq km of forest land in the form of sanctuaries, national parks, and eco-sensitive zones. The remaining area has about 1,533 homes, villages, and other human dwelling units and we need to protect the rights and livelihood of people living here,” Karnataka forest minister Eshwar Khandre said at a recent meeting with officials.
Moreover, the ‘mixed signals’ from the Union Environment Ministry have strengthened the Karnataka government’s position. Between 2014 and 2019, the ministry granted environmental clearances for 31 large-scale projects—non-coal mining, industrial constructions,and estates—all located within 10-50 km of protected areas like wildlife sanctuaries and conservation reserves.
Many of the projects have been in development since the Western Ghats received UNESCO heritage status.
The Yettinahole project, for instance, was approved despite a 2016 report from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, questioning its impact on the region’s biodiversity.
“Chikkaballapur and Kolar districts have sufficient amounts of [water] yield, which meets the demands in the region,” scientist and researcher TV Ramachandra told ThePrint. Having led the study, he argued that only 9.5 TMC of water will be available even during the monsoon months, which is far less than the 24 TMC estimated by the government. He proposed sustainable, cost-effective solutions such as water harvesting, rejuvenation, and restoration of lakes and ponds to tackle the water shortage. These measures could be implemented within two years at a fraction of the cost of the project, he said, and could be done without sacrificing tree cover.
“Thousands of trees have already been razed for the project. The count is only expected to increase until the completion of the project in 2027,” said Akhilesh Chipli, an environmentalist from Sagar in Shivamogga district.
According to a list prepared by Chipli based on ground surveys, six projects by the Karnataka government—proposed and ongoing—will affect over a thousand hectares of forest land in the Western Ghats.
One such project that promises to improve Karnataka’s power generating capacity is the 2,000–megawatt Sharavathi Pumped Storage and Hydroelectric project in Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada districts. It will come at a cost of 30 acres of pristine forest land.
“Once the plant starts functioning, it can store water in a lower reservoir during lesser demand periods and release it to generate electricity during peak-demand periods,” said Anant Hegde Ashisara, environmentalist and former chairman of State Western Ghat Task Force. While acknowledging these benefits, he pushed for cleaner and cheaper renewable energy alternatives like solar energy.
Even proposals for old projects scrapped over environmental concerns are now being revived. One of them is the construction of a five-star hotel at the famous Jog Falls in Shivamogga district, which falls within the Eco-Sensitive Zone of the newly constituted Sharavathi Valley LTM (Lion-tailed Macaque) Sanctuary. In 2022, the state cabinet sanctioned Rs 116 crore to construct a five-star hotel and a ropeway. This was in addition to the Rs 185 crore already approved for civil works in and around Jog Falls. The final proposal is awaiting clearance.
“There are many such redundant infrastructure projects proposed by the state departments in ESAs…but when we raise voice against them, it is always termed as ‘the green brigade is halting development’,” said Praveen Bhargav, managing trustee of Wildlife First and former member of the National Board for Wildlife, a 47-member apex body chaired by the Prime Minister that guides the central government’s decisions on wildlife-related projects in India.
Forest officials refute allegations of inaction or apathy.
“Because we have the heritage tag, we double-check all projects in these biodiversity hotspots to ensure they meet the requirements of UNESCO,” said Dikshit. But he conceded that the heritage tag doesn’t factor into decisions while sanctioning infrastructure projects.
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Warnings ignored
Karnataka never wanted the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. In 2012, the Assembly passed a resolution opposing the Centre’s proposal to the UN to declare 10 sites in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats as world heritage centres.
“Local people, including farmers, were told that they would lose their land once the heritage tag is given…the facts were misrepresented”
– Joseph Hoover, wildlife activist and former member of the State Board for Wildlife.
Then-chief minister BS Yeddyurappa argued that Karnataka was fully capable of protecting the Ghats on its own and that forest-dwellers would suffer if the World Heritage tag prevented development work.
Activists allege a “strong misinformation campaign”.
“Local people, including farmers, were told that they would lose their land once the heritage tag is given…the facts were misrepresented,” said Joseph Hoover, a wildlife activist and former member of the State Board for Wildlife.
Even though the UN designated the region as a heritage site, more than 12 years later, the state forest department and former wildlife board officials claim that the “tag has been of no use.”
It’s also a case of passing the buck. State government officials blame the Centre for failing to submit the mandatory ‘state of conservation’ report required for UNESCO-recognised sites. But a senior official from the environment ministry told ThePrint that the responsibility for regular reviews and reports lies with the state government.
“We have never received any review from the state government. The Centre’s role is only to provide additional observations over and above the state’s inputs,” said the official who did not want to be named.
In 2011, the Gadgil Committee report, led by ecologist and founder of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bengaluru, Madhav Gadgil, recommended that 75 percent of the 1,29,037 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 the first such suggestion for demarcation of ecologically sensitive areas in the Western Ghats region. The panel also envisioned the formation of The Western Ghats Ecology Authority, as a legal authority under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which would essentially grant more powers to local authorities in the governance of the environment instead of the state government. The report was heavily criticised by the state for being ‘too environment friendly’.
In 2013, a committee headed by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan submitted a revised report on the region. The Kasturirangan Committee report nearly halved this recommendation to cover 37 per cent of the Western Ghats. Although it was a diluted version of the Gadgil report, Karnataka rejected the recommendations yet again.
Several farmers that ThePrint spoke to are wary of the reports, tags, and ESA notifications.
“I do not know about the Kasturirangan report. But local leaders informed us that if implemented we could lose our jobs,” said a senior coffee grower in Kodagu district.
Ramarao, another paddy farmer from south Kodagu, who lives in one of the villages that would be classified as ESA in the draft notification, is worried.
“If it ever gets implemented, then it will restrict us from doing farming. How else will we earn money?” he said.
Incidentally, the Gadgil report had cautioned against anti-environmental activities in Wayanad’s Meppadi, situated close to Mundakkai and Chooralmala, the site of the most recent landslides. Gadgil attributed the disaster to the Kerala government’s failure to implement these crucial ecological recommendations.
“We were told the UNESCO heritage tag is really important,” said Coundy Thammaiah, a resident of Kodagu who had helped in the rescue operations during the in 2018 landslides. “However, there is continuous encroachment over forest land. We are afraid to think about what will happen in the future,” he said.
With peak tourist season of November-December around the corner, homestays and resorts in Kodagu are gearing up to welcome a fresh wave of tourists.
“We are opening in November, it is the best time to visit us!” – These words were etched on a green board in front of a semi-constructed building which will soon be bustling with activity.
Residents, while enjoying the benefits of tourism, also fear that the construction work will herald another landslide.
“We would have seen a similar landslide situation this year too, but the rains have been kinder this year, unlike what happened in Wayanad,” said Roy Bopanna.
“Tourists will come and go…but they won’t stay here during our worst [monsoon] months.”
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)