Efforts to protect the Western Ghats — a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the world's biodiversity hotspots — date to the Gadgil Committee report (2011) and the Kasturirangan Committee report (2013), which proposed protecting about 37% of the range as ecologically sensitive. Successive draft notifications have been contested by state governments over the villages and areas to be included. The 2024 Wayanad landslide renewed calls for finalising the ESA. This seventh draft again keeps the proposed area at 56,825.7 sq km across Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Gujarat.

The Western Ghats influence the Indian monsoon and are the source of major peninsular rivers, so their ecological integrity has direct bearing on water security and disaster risk. A finalised ESA would restrict the most damaging activities — mining, quarrying and large construction — but has been repeatedly delayed by disagreements between the Centre and the states over livelihoods and development needs. The recurring draft notifications reflect this decade-long deadlock.