Centre accepts Kerala view to not label some Western Ghats parts as ecologically sensitive

The ministry of environment and forests on Tuesday accepted Kerala's recommendations to keep agricultural land, plantations and habitations out of ecologically-sensitive areas (ESAs) under the Western Ghats report.

The ministry is in the process of issuing a draft notification, which will include the demarcation and boundaries of ESAs, as identified by a high-level working group (HLWG) on Western Ghats, which were given an in-principle acceptance in December.