A High Level Working Group (HLWG), under the Chairmanship of Dr. Kasturirangan, constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India, has made recommendations for notifying 1576 villages of the Western Ghats Region of Karnataka as Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA). The MoEF has given opportunity to the states of the Western Ghats Region for physical verification of the villages proposed to be notified as ESA, as many representations and complaints were received regarding inclusion of cultivated areas, plantations and human habitations in the selected villages. A fear is expressed that the restrictions imposed in ESAs may affect the livelihoods of farmers and common people in the region adversely. Hence in order to verify the ground realities of the proposed ESAs, the Govt. of Karnataka has constituted a four member State Level Expert Committee (SLEC) with Chairman, Karnataka Biodiversity Board as Chairman of the committee. Further, District Level Committees (DLC) with Deputy Commissioner as the Chairman have been constituted in districts of Belgaum, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikmagaluru, Shimoga, Hassan, Madikeri, Mysore and Chamarajnagar. The details and the Terms of Reference of these committees can be seen in the Govt. Order dated 18/08/2014. The DLCs have been given the responsibility of verifying all the villages proposed to be notified as ESA as per the guidelines formulated by the SLEC.
Copy of Government of Karnataka Notification for formation of Karnataka SLEC : GoK Notification -18-8-2014
Karnataka SLEC 