Ecologically Sensitive Regions (ESRs) are the ‘ecological units’ with exceptional biotic and abiotic elements. Identification of ESRs considering spatially both ecological and social dimensions of environmental variables, helps in ecological and conservation planning as per Biodiversity Act, 2002, Government of India. The current research attempts to integrate ecological and environmental considerations into administration, and prioritizes regions at Panchayat levels (local administrative unit) in Uttara Kannada district, Central Western Ghats, Karnataka state considering attributes (biological, Geo climatic, Social, etc.) as ESR (1-4) through weightage score metrics.

The Western Ghats one among 35 global hotspots of biodiversity. The Ghats are a range  of hills which were once covered with extensive forest all along the length from Gujarat to Kerala, constitutes 5% of India’s landmass with 30% of plants and animals. The high level of fragility of the Western Ghats ecosystems is due to its inherent geomorphological, climatic and biological characteristics. The region consists of evergreen and semi evergreen forest with the exceptional biodiversity of endemic flora and fauna: 4,600 species of flowering plants with 38% endemics, 330 butterflies with 11% endemics, 197 reptiles with 52% endemics, 529 birds with 4% endemics, 161 mammals with 9% endemics, 343 fishes with 31% endemics and 248 amphibians with 62% endemics. The Western Ghats with increasing dry period northwards, exhibit a progressive decline in tree endemics from south to the north. Of the 320 tree species considered endemic, 85% occur at 8-10° N, which receive maximum of 8-10 months of rainfall. At 10-12 °N, the region has 71% endemics, 43% in 12-14 °N, 22% in 14-16 °N, 17% in 16-18 °N and only 9% tree endemics north of 18° (the locality with only 3-4 rainy months). The rich biodiversity coupled with higher endemism is due to the humid tropical climate, topographical and geological characteristics, and geographical isolation (Arabian Sea to the west and the semiarid Deccan Plateau to the east).  The Western Ghats is a thin north- south aligned strip of narrow forested hills with specific geographical, climatological, geological, hydrological and biological aspects. Maintaining ecological integrity by designating as Ecologically Sensitive Areas would aid in the long-term preservation of biodiversity. The Western Ghats are the sources of all the rivers of the Deccan and the coast. The protection of forests in the river catchment are essential for water and food security with the sustained supply of water to the peninsular India and conservation of key species.

Protected areas (PA), national parks (NP), sanctuaries, nature reserves, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas have been created through policy initiatives in order to protect the native habitat of endemic species. Thus, PA system has evolved strategically to protect and maintain biological diversity, cultural resources at local to global scales. Subsequently, the concept of ecologically sensitive areas and community conserved areas has led to newer and wider frameworks for conservation at the landscape level, with an appropriate legal sanctity through the Environment Protection Act 1986. Section 3(2)(v) of the Act empowers the central government to take all such measures that it deems necessary to protect and improve the quality of the environment and prevent environmental degradation. It allows for the restriction of areas in which certain developmental activities can be prohibited. Further, section 5(1) of the Environment (Protection) Rules (EPR), 1986, specifies certain criteria like topographic and climatic features of an area, biological diversity of the area, environmentally compatible land use, extensive cultivation, proximity to the protected areas, etc. that can be considered while prohibiting or restricting certain operations in different areas. Maintaining ecological integrity in the protected area with buffer region is essential as most of protected landscapes are open systems that face anthropogenic and other biotic threats from adjacent areas. Alterations in landscape structure with a reduction in contiguous forests would increase the likelihood of invasive plants and animal range expansions, alter hydrologic regime (water availability), which leads to the erosion of integrity of the protected ecosystems.This necessitates identification and demarcation of effective ESRs considering the existing level of impacts and their future spatial spread.

The river basin consists of prime protected areas namely the Kali Tiger Reserve and Hornbill conservation reserve. Earlier, Anshi National Park and Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary were together granted the status of  Project Tiger  Reserve, and declared as 'Anshi Dandeli Tiger Reserve' (2007) and subsequently renamed as Kali Tiger Reserve (December 2015). The  Kali Tiger Reserve (KTR) is a part of 8,800 Sq Km of tiger conservation landscape comprising  Protected Areas and reserved forests of Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary towards north of KTR abutting Bhimghad Wildlife Sanctuary and further connects Radhanagari and Koyna Wildlife Sanctuaries in Maharashtra and Protected Areas  in Goa State. Similarly reserve forests on the northeast of KTR forms permeable landscapes for tigers. The reserved forests in the south, connects KTR with Bedthi and Aghanashini Conservation Reserves and further down to Mookambika and Sharavathi Valley Wildlife Sanctuaries.

The unplanned developmental activities and ad-hoc policy measures in PAs are altering forest landscape structure, affecting the biodiversity, soil retention capacity, hydrologic regime, loss of carbon sequestration potential, etc. Deforestation has been considered as one of the drivers of global warming and consequent changes in the climate. Forests of Karnataka are experiencing landscape dynamics from post-independence period due to the implementation of large-scale developmental projects and deceitful policy measures. The Kali river basin is acting as a lifeline for Uttara Kannada, parts of Belgaum and Dharwad districts through sustained hydrological and other services. In this regard, spatiotemporal land use analyses and ecological sensitive regions (ESR) of Kali river basin has been prepared. The land use analysis highlights the decline of evergreen forest cover from 61.79 to 38.5 % (1973-2016). The natural forest cover has been replaced with exotic species such as Acacia, Eucalyptus and Teak etc.. This has led to change in major forest cover of Dandeli, Haliyal, and parts of Supa regions. The construction of series of dams and reservoirs have submerged large-scale forest land by affecting ecology.

ESRs are demarcated at the village level in the Kali River basin considering bio-geo climatic variables. The Kali river basin covers total 524 villages of across three districts – Uttara Kannada, Belgaum and Dharwad (Table 3). Among these, 203 villages are in ESR-1, 73 villages are in ESR-2 shows, 77 villages in  ESR-3, and 181 villages  in ESR-4. The Uttara Kannada district has 331 villages out of which 190 villages are in ESR-1. Forests of these villages need to be protected and further degradation should not be allowed. The ESR 1 & ESR 2 is referred as ‘no go area’ with respect to developments and ESR 4 is referred as a least possible eco-sensitive region. The Community-based Conservation (CBC) of ESR 2 & 3 is anticipated as conservation of biological diversity (or wildlife) based on the involvement of local communities, in decision-making. This approach will help in improving local ecology by their inputs.