Government re-issues draft notification declaring over 56 K sq km of Western Ghats as eco-sensitive area

3 min readNew DelhiJul 28, 2026 10:52 PM IST Karnataka continues to oppose the draft notification, while the Centre is still resolving sticking points and information discrepancies with Kerala and Tamil Nadu, respectively. (File photo) The Centre has issued a seventh iteration of a draft notification declaring 56,825.7 square kilometre of Western Ghats, the biodiversity hotspot spread across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, as an ecologically sensitive area (ESA). The fresh draft was issued on Monday – the day sixth iteration lapsed due to a continuing deadlock between the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the states concerned over demarcation of ESA areas. The ESAs proposed across these states are spread over 449 sq km in Gujarat,