The recent dilution of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961, through an amendment to Section 109 enabling direct purchase of agricultural land from farmers, is set to bring the government and the local stakeholders on a collision course in the hilly district of Kodagu.

Ravaged by two back-to-back floods in 2018 and 2019 abetted by unbridled urbanisation and infrastructure development promoting tourism, there are concerns in Kodagu that sale of agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose will devastate the catchment area of the Cauvery.

A Kodagu-based NGO – Coorg Wildlife Society - has said that the amendment will have devastating consequences for the district as reckless urbanisation has already caused negative impact on the environment as evident in recent floods and landslides.

“It is not just about land in Kodagu, it will also have a bearing on water and its implications will be felt in the downstream region of State and impact food security and agriculture’’, said C.P. Muthanna of Coorg Wildlife Society (CWS) which plans to take legal recourse to fight the amendment.

“The amendment makes it easy for any industrialist to directly approach the farmer and purchase the land and we will write to the government and also approach the court to fight the amendment.’’

Though there are individuals and political outfits supportive of the government’s move, the correlation of environmental damage and depletion in water flow cannot be denied, said Mr. Muthanna.

Stakeholders now plan to revive environmental groups including Save Kodagu Save Cauvery campaign that was an umbrella organisation of various groups fighting to conserve the environment of Kodagu.

These groups were at the forefront to oppose the proposed linear projects through Kodagu that included two railway lines – one connecting Madikeri with Mysuru via Kushalnagar and another connecting Thalassery in Kerala with Mysuru via Kodagu.

While there are no dearth of studies underlying the ecological damage that has taken place in Kodagu over the years, a group of scientists have come out with new findings on the urbanisation and change in land use pattern in the district which does not augur well for its future.

The study is by T.V. Ramachandra, S. Vinay and S. Bharat of Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. The paper titled “Urban Dynamics in Coorg District, Karnataka’’, has been published in the ENVIS Technical Report, April 2020.

As per the paper, the native vegetation cover including forest, scrub jungles, and sacred groves, has declined from 45.44 per cent to 44.46 per cent with loss of edge forests which are slowly being converted into open spaces.

The study also states that land use changes assessment indicate that the agriculture areas are vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures with burgeoning societal demands around major towns where agriculture areas are converted to construct resorts. The imbalance in the forest cover can lead to abrupt change in hydrological status, increased temperatures, higher instances of landslides, higher soil erosion and less productivity of crops, as per the report. Mr. Muthanna said the scientific findings will strengthen their fight against the amendment.