The Western Ghats, one of India's most ecologically fragile regions, faces mounting climate threats, including a 1,000% rise in floods and frequent droughts.
Despite these risks, the proposed Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) remains unnotified, leaving the region vulnerable to human activities and climate change impacts.
Nearly a quarter of India’s recorded landslides have occurred in the proposed Western Ghats ecologically sensitive area (WGESA). Floods, too, have become far more frequent in the region: their incidence has risen by 1,000 per cent over five decades, compared with a 410 per cent increase across the rest of the country. Droughts are also declared more frequently in these districts than elsewhere in India.
These are the findings of an analysis by climate and ecosystems team at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, which studied 47 districts across six states, proposed for inclusion in the WGESA under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The analysis points to mounting climate risks in one of the country’s most ecologically fragile landscape, even as its legal protection remains in limbo.
On July 27, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued a draft notification proposing to declare the WGESA. This was the seventh such draft notification initiating the process of demarcating and conserving the ecologically sensitive region, which covers 56,825.7 sq km across six states—Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Karnataka and Maharashtra account for the largest share of the proposed area.
The draft notification’s fate, however, remains uncertain. Although the authority to finalise the WGESA rests with the Union government, reportedly none of the six state governments has supported the proposal.
The analysis, conducted by the climate and ecosystems team at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy using official datasets, highlight the need for the Union and state governments to build consensus and expedite the final notification.
Data from the Geological Survey of India (GSI), analysed by the researchers, show that the proposed WGESA recorded 7,983 landslides between 1905 and 2024, accounting for 23.3 per cent of India's recorded total. This makes the Western Ghats the third most landslide-prone region in the country.
Thirteen of its districts feature among India's 50 most landslide-affected districts, the authors say.
Kerala was the worst-affected state among the six, recording 3,283 incidents. The state’s Idukki district alone recorded 1,791 recorded landslides, making it the second most affected district in the country.
Major landslide disasters, for instance the Malin landslide in 2014, Pettimudi in 2020, Taliye reported in 2021, Shirur in 2024, and Meppadi-Wayanad disaster in 2024, illustrate how intense monsoon rainfall can interact destructively with altered hill slopes. Hill cutting, road and tunnel construction, quarrying and changes in plantation or land-use can all compound the risks, the analysis notes.
Floods become more frequent
The region’s The region's vulnerability is also evident in the changing pattern of floods. The India Flood Inventory-Impacts (IFI-Impacts), which provides year-wise information on floods in India from 1967 to 2023, shows that the proposed WGESA has experienced a disproportionate increase in flood events.
Between 1970 and 1980, floods affecting the proposed WGESA districts accounted for 13.4 per cent of all recorded floods in India. By 2010-20, their share had more than doubled to 28.9 per cent, the analysis found.
The increase in the number of floods has been particularly striking. Between 1970-80 and 2010-20, flood events across India rose by 410 per cent. In the proposed ESA districts, they increased by 1,000 per cent.
Flooding now affects almost the entire proposed area. All 47 districts recorded at least one flood during each of the decades 1990-2000 and 2000-10. The number fell marginally to 46 districts in 2010-20, compared with 41 in 1970-80.
Kerala accounted for 40.8 per cent of the recorded floods in the region, followed by Maharashtra with 30.8 per cent and Karnataka with 18 per cent.
The character of flooding has also changed. Floods are becoming shorter but considerably more frequent. The average duration of a flood fell from 7.3 days in 1970-80 to 3.4 days in 2010-20. At the same time, the average annual number of floods per district increased 7.1-fold, from 0.23 to 1.64. By 2010-20, the frequency was three times the national average, says Debadityo Sinha, one of the authors.
Ten districts accounted for 43.3 per cent of all recorded floods in the proposed ESA. Thiruvananthapuram reported the highest number, at 232, followed by Wayanad (149), Pune (139) and Idukki (116).
Droughts add to the burden
Floods are not the only climate-related threat facing the Western Ghats. The biodiversity hotspot has also experienced frequent drought declarations over the past 15 years.
Between 2011-12 and 2025-26, as many as 38 of the 47 proposed ESA districts were officially declared drought-affected at least once. Together, they recorded 157 drought declarations across the kharif and rabi seasons.
“On an average, droughts were declared 4.1 times in drought-affected WGESA Districts, as against an average of 2.3 times in the other drought-affected Districts in India,” says Anandhu PM, a co-author of the analysis.
The analysis also finds that drought patterns in the Western Ghats do not necessarily mirror national trends. In 2015-16, for instance, when India experienced a severe drought, only 18 WGESA districts were affected. The region's worst drought years were 2012-13 and 2016-17, both of which were relatively moderate at the national level.
Karnataka was the worst-affected state among the six, followed by Maharashtra. All ten districts in Karnataka's proposed ESA were declared drought-affected, accounting for 69 declarations—the highest number in the region. Maharashtra recorded 46 declarations across nine of its 13 proposed ESA districts. Kerala and Tamil Nadu also had districts affected by drought, while none in Goa or Gujarat were declared drought-affected during the period.
Protection cannot wait
The findings underline the Western Ghats' vulnerability to climate change and the growing strain on its ecological resilience. The region is critical to water security, not only for its own communities but also for large parts of the southern peninsula.
The increasing frequency of extreme weather events, coupled with changes to the landscape, is putting essential ecological functions under pressure. The cumulative effects of climate hazards and human interventions make the case for stronger safeguards, the analysis concludes.
Preeta Dhar, one of the authors, says the findings point to a growing threat from climate change. “The assessment indicates that with climate change impact such extreme events are occurring more frequent and more often. If the Ecological Sensitive Area is not declared soon, then the resilience of ecosystem can further degrade.”
Dhar adds that the safeguards and restrictions needed to protect these sensitive and unique ecosystems will come into force only after the ESA is formally notified. Without them, disruptive human activities are likely to continue expanding without adequate assessment of their cumulative impacts, the landscape's carrying capacity or the ecological restrictions needed to protect it.
