Environment and forest ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu will meet here on Tuesday to discuss conservation of biodiversity of the Western Ghats and ways to provide adequate livelihood security to the local residents.

According to an official release, the meeting to be attended by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar will review the progress of physical demarcation of ecologically sensitive area in Western Ghats.

“The main focus of the meeting will be to conserve the biodiversity of the Western Ghats region, while providing adequate opportunities for livelihood security of the local people in the broad paradigm of ecologically sensitive area,” the release said.

The environment ministry had published a draft notification last year for declaring an ecologically sensitive area in the Western Ghats in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The identified ecologically sensitive area represents a continuous band of natural vegetation, extending over a horizontal distance of about 1,500 km along the west coast of the country.............Read more

Source web page: The Hindu