Mumbai: The ecologically sensitive area (ESA) around the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife corridor has been set at 212.59 sq km spread over 25 villages in Sindhdurg district.The Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued the final notification on Tuesday. The draft notification had been issued in March last year.
In a PIL filed by NGOs Vanashakti and Awaaz Foundation the Bombay High Court had directed the Centre to declare the wildlife corridor as an ESA for the protection and conservation of the entire ecosystem including wildlife and its corridors. The wildlife corridor is part of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hot spot. The corridor has dense tropical and semi-evergreen forests, facilitates essential wildlife movement between protected areas and maintains healthy, viable populations of threatened or endemic species, states the gazette notification. Major fauna include tiger, leopard, elephant and Bonnet macaque.
