New Delhi, 8 April

The Union environment ministry has issued a draft notification declaring 663.32 square kilometres around the Kali Tiger Reserve in Karnataka as an Eco-Sensitive Zone.

Eco-Sensitive Zones, or ESZ, are areas notified by the government around protected areas, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. They act as "shock absorbers" by minimising human impact around such ecologically fragile areas.

"The Kali Tiger Reserve holds the major catchment of the Kali River and its tributaries, Nagzari and Kaneri. It is home to tigers, leopards, wild dogs, elephants, Indian gaurs, Indian pangolins, great Indian hornbills, castlerock night frogs and many other charismatic species of endangered and endemic flora and fauna," said the notification, which was issued on 2 April but published on Tuesday.

The tiger reserve consists of the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and the Anshi National Park, which are contiguous to each other and form a single tract of protected area in the biologically sensitive Western Ghats.

According to the notification, the ESZ varies from zero to ten kilometres around the boundary of the tiger reserve. However, no ESZ has been demarcated to the north, west and north-west of the reserve due to the presence of the adjacent Bhimagad Wildlife Sanctuary.

The environment ministry has invited comments from stakeholders within 60 days.