Heritage tag for Western Ghats may hit industry

BUFFER ZONE Govt will have to ban any commercial activity around 39 sites

NEW DELHI: A United Nations body has put 39 serial natural sites in the Western Ghats on World Heritage Site list but with a rider. The state governments concerned will have to ban any commercial and industrial activity around the sites and consider implementing recommendations of an expert panel.

NEW DELHI: A United Nations body has put 39 serial natural sites in the Western Ghats on World Heritage Site list but with a rider. The state governments concerned will have to consider the implementation of recommendations of an expert panel on the region.

The Western Ghats Ecological Expert Panel headed by National Advisory Council member Madhav Gadgil in 2011 had suggested several measures to minimise industrial activity in region. The environment ministry, which constituted the panel, is yet to accept recommendations of the panel as it is awaiting response of the state governments, said a senior environment ministry official.

“Review the scope and composition of the current serial nomination to take into account any recommendations of the panel in order to reflect the full spectrum of ecological and biodiversity values of the Western Ghats,” the World Heritage Committee said in its decision taken at St Petersburg in Russia on Monday.

The committee works under the ambit of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and monitors implementation of its charter in the heritage sites. Western Ghats is now the sixth natural site in the country in the total list of 29 UNESCO-mandated world heritage sites from India.

“It is a very good achievement for the cultural ministry team that went to St Petersburg. After two decades, a natural site from India has made it into the world heritage list. It means more attention towards the maintenance and care of this heritage,” said BR Mani, additional director-general, Archaeological Survey of India.

The decision could have implications on development in and around these sites as UNESCO prescribes creation of additional buffer zones around the natural world heritage sites and putting in place an overarching management authority for conservation of the selected 39 serial sites. The sites include wildlife habitats such as Sahyadri and Periyar tiger reserves.