Aravallis ‘as vital as Himalayas’: Energy expert urges SC panel to adopt landscape‑scale protection

By A Representative 

A prominent energy and climate policy expert from Karnataka has urged the Supreme Court–appointed High-Powered Committee on Aravalli Conservation and Mining to adopt a far more expansive, science‑driven framework to protect what he calls “one of India’s most valuable natural life‑support systems.” In a detailed submission dated August 5, 2026, Shankar Sharma, a veteran analyst based in the Western Ghats, warned that the Aravalli Range must be treated with the same seriousness accorded to the Himalayas and Western Ghats, arguing that its ecological functions are indispensable for millions of people across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. 

“Even though I live in a far-off place in South India, and in the heart of Western Ghats, I can clearly view the importance of Aravalli hills to the local people, local ecology and the country as a whole,” he wrote, adding that “for any rationally minded environmentalist, the hills of Aravalli range are as important, if not more, as that of Himalayas and Western Ghats.” 

Sharma’s representation underscores the mounting scientific concern over the rapid degradation of the Aravallis, one of the world’s oldest fold mountain systems stretching over 700 km and across 37 districts. He cites Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change assessments that describe the range as a natural barrier against desertification, a regulator of groundwater recharge, and a protector of Delhi‑NCR’s air quality. The Supreme Court itself, he notes, has repeatedly warned that uncontrolled mining poses a “great threat to the ecology of the nation.” 

The expert’s submission places the Aravallis squarely within the global climate discourse, invoking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s classification of mountain systems as “sentinel regions” where ecological stress manifests early and intensely. He argues that although the Aravallis lack glaciers, they function as a “climate shield” and “green lung” for more than 50 million people. “The Aravallis are the primary geographical barrier preventing the eastward march of the Thar Desert into the fertile Indo-Gangetic plains and the National Capital Region,” he writes, warning that fragmentation of this barrier would accelerate land degradation and intensify dust storms. 

Sharma highlights the range’s hydrological significance, describing it as an “underground sponge” whose fractured rock aquifers recharge groundwater for water‑stressed cities such as Delhi and Gurugram. He cautions that vegetation loss and mining activity directly undermine rainwater filtration, pushing urban water tables toward collapse. He also points to the Aravallis’ role in moderating extreme heat, guiding monsoon systems, buffering cold winter winds, and sequestering carbon—functions that he says are becoming more critical as India faces escalating climate extremes. 

The submission draws attention to alarming national data from ISRO’s Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas, which found that nearly 30% of India’s land was degraded in 2018–19, with the Aravalli belt identified as a priority zone for restoration. Sharma notes that the Union Environment Minister’s launch of the Aravalli Green Wall Project underscores the strategic importance of restoring the range to combat desertification and enhance biodiversity. 

In his recommendations to the Supreme Court committee, Sharma calls for treating the entire Aravalli system as one integrated ecological landscape rather than fragmented administrative units. He urges replacing elevation‑based protection criteria—such as the controversial 100‑metre threshold—with ecosystem‑based criteria that safeguard ridges, valleys, wildlife corridors, aquifer zones and scrub forests. He advocates notifying critical stretches as Ecologically Sensitive Landscapes, imposing a precautionary approach to mining, mandating cumulative ecological impact assessments, and prioritising large‑scale restoration over compensatory afforestation. 

Sharma also recommends establishing an independent Aravalli Landscape Conservation Authority to overcome fragmented governance across four states, and institutionalising satellite‑based monitoring using remote sensing, GIS and AI to track illegal mining, forest loss, habitat fragmentation and groundwater recharge. He urges the committee to adopt an “Ecology First” principle, arguing that ecological security is inseparable from long‑term economic security in a climate‑vulnerable nation. 

In his concluding remarks, Sharma writes that “the Aravalli Range is not merely an assemblage of hills but one of India’s most valuable natural life-support systems,” stressing that its conservation is an investment in India’s environmental security, economic resilience and inter‑generational equity. He calls the committee’s deliberations a “historic opportunity” to secure the ecological integrity of this ancient mountain range for future generations.