India, July 28 -- The sixth and latest draft notification issued on July 31, 2024, to notify over 56,000 square kilometre of the Western Ghats as an ecologically sensitive area (ESA) expired on Monday (July 27), with no consensus reached among states over the final demarcation and area. A seventh draft notification is likely to be issued, even as talks involving Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and an expert committee on the matter continue.

The Union government began the process of protecting and notifying an ESA for the mountain chain stretching 1,600 kilometers in 2010. A panel led by ecologist Madhav Gadgil recommended the designation of the Western Ghats as an ESA in 2011. Another panel under the late former ...