India aims to bring back F1 by 2028: Sports Ministry sources Awaz The Voice
Take a look at the essential events, concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your UPSC Current Affairs knowledge nugget for today on Western Ghats. Twelve years after it issued the first draft notification, the Centre is finally ready to finalise and notify the demarcation of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) in the Western Ghats region, at least in the three states in which contentious issues have more or less been resolved, The Indian Express has learnt. In this context, let’s know about the Western Ghats and its significance. 1. Over 56,000 square km of land in six states are proposed to be demarcated as ESA, based on the 2013 recommendations of a high-level working group led by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan. 2. Activities like new mining and quarrying projects, setting up of thermal power plants, operation of most-polluting red-category of industries, new and expansion projects of buildings and construction with a built-up area of 20,000 square metres or above, are proposed to be completely banned or heavily restricted. 3. The Centre’s original draft notification had come in 2014, and has undergone five revisions since then, but disagreements with the state governments on the areas earmarked for declaration as ESAs within their jurisdictions have not been fully resolved. Even now, the states of Kerala and Karnataka have been holding out. Kerala wants its own area to be further reduced, while Karnataka has been continuing to question the entire exercise. What is ESA? The ESA is buffer areas demarcated around protected areas to minimise the negative impact of anthropogenic activities such as mining, hydropower projects, etc.
Story continues below this ad 5. Though the negotiations with Kerala and Karnataka are continuing, the Centre is learnt to be preparing to notify the ESA in the states where an agreement on this issue has either been achieved, or is close to being finalised. This is different from the previous attempts in which the Centre had issued draft notifications for ESAs in all the states together. 6. A final notification, when it happens, will give more legal teeth for protecting the fragile biodiverse area of the Western Ghats under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, and prohibit activities that threaten the sensitive environment of the region. What is the ecological significance of Western Ghats?
Western Ghats are among the four of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots located in India. The other three biodiversity hotspots are the Himalayas, the Indo-Burma region, and the Sundaland.
Older than the Himalaya mountains, the 1,600 km long Western Ghats mountain chain was recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as one of the world’s eight hotspots of biological diversity in 2018. Story continues below this ad
The Western Ghats, also known as the Shayadari hills, hold immense ecological and biodiversity value, making them one of the most critical natural assets of India and the World. The region has outstanding universal value due to its exceptional biodiversity, endemism, and its role in maintaining vital ecological and climatic processes.
It stretches along the western coast of the Indian peninsula, spanning six states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
Ecologically, the Western Ghats serve as a crucial climatic regulator for peninsular India. Acting as a barrier to the South-West monsoon, the range ensures high supporting lush forests and numerous rivers that sustain millions of people.
The Western Ghats are home to diverse ecosystems, threatened species.6. The Ghats are also home to diverse ecosystems, including tropical
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