Not by design but WGEEP subsumed peoples' voice

Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment &
 Forests, at the Kotagiri SWGM. Dr Sudhirendar
Sharma, Latha Anantha and Pratim Roy can be
seen sitting at the dais. 

  

Renowned ecologist Madhav Gadgil is known to have shifted the paradigm on nature conservation discourse, by giving primacy to rights of the marginalized communities for whom the forest was home. As chairman the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests in 2010, the panel proposed stringent environmental safeguards in ecologically sensitive zones across the Western Ghats. Rooted in scientific evidence and fieldwork, it recommended decentralized decision-making and community participation. The report triggered intense political resistance and public debate, not a single state government fully supported its implementation. 

How the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel come into being?   

Diverse social groups and individuals joined hands in establishing the Save Western Ghats Movement (SWGM), which organized a padyatra that brought activists from Gujarat to Kerala to collate into a movement in Goa under the leadership of Mr Kalanand Mani. The padyatra was hailed by India Today as one of the finest post-independence environmental movements, but the mid-1980s march along the pristine 'ghats' withered away on account of internal squabbling between the organizers. 

There was long silence thereafter! It was between year 2006 till 2008 that the Delhi-based activist-journalist Sudhirendar Sharma got an opportunity to travel across the ghats to capture the latent energy among diverse actors to reignite the past. The month-long travel was guided by Pandurang Hegde, who carried the painful memories of the historic padyatra. The colorful travelogue Paradise Lost....almost left much to the imagination. Despite apprehensions it was agreed to let an outsider from the region guide the movement. 

Two important congregations of activists, researchers, scientists, artists, politicians and thinkers were organized under the aegis of Save Western Ghats Movement - an informal platform of civil society actors promoting conservation. The first in 2009 in Ponda (Goa) revived the erstwhile movement of the mid-80's and tabled the environmental challenges. It was so designed that the participatory meeting was considered a grand success. The Keystone Foundation volunteered to host the next such meeting at Kotagiri (near Ooty) on the condition of its moderation by the 'same outsider'*.  

The second congregation in Kotagiri in 2010 was a major milestone as it led to the setting-up of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel by the Ministry of Environment & Forests. The then Union Environment Minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh chaired the meeting and paid serious attention to SWGM demand for setting up of the 'Western Ghats Ecological Authority'. From the dais itself, the minister sought advice (from his Delhi office) on making a public announcement in that regard. Protocol demanded that an expert group should go into the pros & cons of setting up such an authority. 

A day later after Feb 2010 meeting, the formation of WGEEP was formally announced under the chairmanship of (late) Dr Madhav Gadgil. Representing SWGM, researcher-activist. Latha Anantha worked very closely with WGEEP in delivering its ambitious report. Rest, as it said, is history.          

*Sudhirendar Sharma