| CAG report on Kerala • The CAG’s Compliance Audit Report for the year ended March 31, 2022 noted significant forestland fragmentation in Wayanad. • According to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Management Plan, the district’s forestland decreased from 1,811.35 sq km in 1950 to 863.86 sq km in 2021. |
- Wayanad, recently struck by a deadly landslide, is among several high-risk areas identified in Kerala in the Landslide Atlas of India.
- In February 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) created a national-level database ranking regions based on their exposure to landslides and key socio-economic parameters.
- The Landslide Atlas of India, prepared by ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre, identified Rudraprayag in Uttarakhand as the most landslide-prone.
- Among 147 districts in 17 states and two union territories, Wayanad is ranked 13th, with Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode districts of Kerala ranked 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 10th, respectively.
- The ISRO database, covering 1998 to 2022, includes seasonal, event-based, and route-wise landslide inventories. It documented major disasters, including the 2021 landslide at Puthumala in Wayanad.
- The atlas focused on landslide-prone regions of the Western Ghats and the Himalayas.
- It highlighted that the high population and household density in Kerala’s Western Ghats increase vulnerability despite fewer landslides compared to the Himalayan regions.
- The steep escarpments of the Western Ghats experience landslides primarily controlled by soil cover on the slopes.
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