Western Ghats: No UNESCO tag this year

The Western Ghats may not get its World Heritage Site status in the near future.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which assesses proposals for sites of natural significance, has asked UNESCO to defer granting the WHS tag to the Western Ghats. This means that the World Heritage Convention may drop this proposal now and India can submit a fresh proposal for nomination only after three years.

The IUCN recommendation has been made in the IUCN Evaluation Report which will be presented at the 36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) which gets under way on June 24 at Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Even last year, the proposal of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) was all set to be shot down at the WHC meeting. The Indian government at that time had fought tooth and nail, and managed to keep the proposal afloat.

Last year, the WHC had referred the nomination of the Western Ghats as a natural heritage serial site and instructed the Indian government to “harmonise arrangements between the ‘Western Ghats Natural Heritage [Management] Committee’ and the ‘Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel’ (WGEEP) and strengthen community membership and input through the establishment of the proposed ‘Western Ghats Natural Heritage Conservation Authority’ and other relevant advisory committees”.

This year, however, the IUCN assessment is acutely critical, given the Indian government’s dithering on the WGEEP report issue. Among other things, the WGEEP report had faulted the government on the virtual non-implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. Though the IUCN document does not directly refer to the Forest Rights Act, it said that “the protection status of at least parts of the renominated property does not meet the requirements set out in the Operational Guidelines, principally due to concerns about land tenure and the strength of legal controls over development.”

The Indian government has not acted on the words of wisdom that had been directed its way last year. The government has not acted on the contentious issues of management, boundaries as well as threats posed to the Western Ghats in the year that went by.

The official proposal had hinged on two criteria primarily—that of the ecological processes of the Western Ghats and the biodiversity of the area.

The IUCN has pulled up India on both, and has in fact asked the Indian government to take into account the recommendations of the WGEEP since the panel had been specifically tasked to compile scientific data and define ecologically sensitive areas through consultation.

It has also urged India to undertake “a further consultation to facilitate increased engagement to ensure the views of all stakeholders, including local indigenous groups, are considered, in order to ensure and demonstrate broad-based support for the nomination.” This assumes significance in the light of MoEF deciding to call in for comments and views on the WGEEP report put up on its website on Wednesday.

What would be most difficult for India to adhere to would be integration of the Western Ghats area. IUCN has asked it to “establish improved coordination and integration between component sites, particularly through the preparation and implementation of an overarching management plan or framework for the serial property as a whole and through the establishment of the proposed ‘Western Ghats Natural Heritage Conservation Authority’.”

There are seven sub-clusters and 39 sites that have been mentioned in the Western Ghats nomination proposal.