• Dr. Jayakrishnan Nair

Western Ghats is a mountain range acting as a green belt to India’s Southern peninsula extending from Goa to Kanyakumari covering six Indian States viz., Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The length of this range is around 1600 kms. and the width ranges from 48 kms. to 210 kms. Its average elevation is around 1200 m (3,900 ft.). Why throughtless plundering of these mountain ranges throughout the length and breadth them by human habitation and commercial exploitation like large scale mining have attracted concern and criticism from all the nature-loving people and institutions will become clear only when one comes to know about the significance of protecting the rarest of rare species of plants, birds and animals which have made it their home. This paper examines the two reports of the government appointed committees and their consequences in the socio-political milieu and the reason why the reports have been put in the backburner since then.

Key words: Ecology, Endemic, Environment, Extinction, Habitat, Rainforests, Species, Southern Peninsula, Western Ghats,

"Human V/s Environmental Issues in the Western Ghats : A Brief Commentary on Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan Reports", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no.21-26, May-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905E04.pdf

"Human V/s Environmental Issues in the Western Ghats : A Brief Commentary on Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan Reports", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no. pp21-26, May-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905E04.pdf