Madhav Gadgil’s connection with Kerala has always been rooted in the Western Ghats—a landscape he saw as both breathtaking and heartbreakingly fragile. His work was not just scientific; it carried the tenderness of someone trying to protect a living organism. Kerala, he believed, stood at the frontline of climate vulnerability, and the Ghats were its shield. His repeated interventions over the years became a series of warnings the state chose not to hear—warnings that would echo loudly after every flood and landslide.

The Gadgil Report and a missed chance for protection
 

placeholder

In 2011, as chair of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, Gadgil delivered what would become his most defining contribution to Kerala. His report identified large swathes of the state’s Ghats as Ecologically Sensitive Areas and pushed for limits on quarrying, mining, construction and land use. It was a blueprint to preserve Kerala’s environmental backbone. Yet, fearing social unrest and economic repercussions, political actors and powerful groups rejected the recommendations, paving the way for a more diluted alternative.

Conflict with Kerala and local power centres

The pushback was intense. The Kerala government aligned with influential entities—including segments of the Syro-Malabar Church—to oppose the stringent provisions. For Gadgil, it was not just administrative resistance but a deep disappointment: a scientific effort meant to protect communities had been portrayed as a threat to them.

His voice after Kerala’s deadly floods and landslides
 

placeholder

 

When Kerala reeled under devastating floods and landslides—most memorably in 2018 and again in the recurring tragedies in Wayanad in 2024—Gadgil’s warnings returned with painful clarity. He called the disasters “man-made”, pointing straight at the illegal quarrying, rampant hill-cutting and unregulated development he had foreseen. Each calamity, in his eyes, was the price of ignoring ecological truth.

Advocacy for community-based conservation

Despite criticism and politicisation of his work, Gadgil never distanced himself from Kerala. Instead, he doubled down on his belief that conservation must be community-driven. He repeatedly argued that local people were the true custodians of the Western Ghats and must be empowered to protect them. His interventions were always rooted in a moral urgency: saving the Ghats meant saving Kerala’s future.

A legacy tied to the fragile mountains

Madhav Gadgil’s name will forever be intertwined with Kerala’s Western Ghats—a scientist’s lifelong bond with a landscape he tried to defend. His legacy stands as both a warning and a hope: that Kerala may yet listen to the mountains he spent his life trying to protect.