The Gadgil Committee Report is a landmark environmental policy document, formally known as the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) Report. It was constituted in March 2010 by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to assess the ecological status of the Western Ghats. The report, submitted on August 31, 2011, aimed to recommend measures for the conservation and sustainable development of this globally recognized biodiversity hotspot.
The report's core mechanism was to designate the entire 1,29,037 sq km of the Western Ghats, spanning six states, as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). It further classified the region into three tiers of sensitivity: Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ) 1, ESZ 2, and ESZ 3. Key provisions included an indefinite moratorium on new environmental clearances for mining in ESZ 1 and ESZ 2, a ban on new large-scale storage dams in ESZ 1, and a prohibition on new red and orange category industries. It also proposed the creation of a statutory body, the Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA), under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and advocated for a decentralized, bottom-up governance approach involving Gram Sabhas.
The report was not implemented due to strong opposition from state governments and stakeholders who feared its impact on development and livelihoods. It was subsequently reviewed by the Kasturirangan Committee (High-Level Working Group), which submitted its report in 2013. The Kasturirangan Report significantly scaled down the recommendations, proposing only 37% of the Western Ghats area as an ESA, effectively replacing the Gadgil Committee's more stringent framework.