At a time when Kerala faces mounting pressures on land from human-led interventions and changing environmental factors, the State government is giving shape to a new land use policy with the involvement of multiple government departments and agencies.
The Planning and Economic Affairs department has constituted an expert panel for drafting the policy with R. Ramakumar, member, State Planning Board, as chairperson and the Commissioner, Land Use Department, as convener.
Representatives of 20 government departments and agencies are on the panel, according to an October 13 order issued by the department. They include the departments for Environment and Climate Change, Land Revenue, Industries, Public Works, Tourism, Forest and Wildlife, Agriculture, Local Self-Government, Town and Country Planning, Fisheries, and Mining and Geology, as well as the agencies, boards, and authorities for disaster management, remote sensing, wetlands, biodiversity, pollution control, and coastal zone management.
Steps are on to draft the policy at a time when the State faces multiple challenges on the land utilisation front. The State Action Plan on Climate Change 2023-2030 (SAPCC 2.0), released in December 2022, had noted that Kerala needs a “comprehensive review” of its land use planning, “so that land can be consolidated and directed towards its best ecosystem usage” in the context of climate change.
Challenges include a growing population and consequent rising demand for land for housing, industry, and agriculture, natural calamities such as floods and landslides, coastal erosion in the west, and human-wildlife conflict in the eastern areas bordering the forests.
Kerala’s land area has been classified into about 13 different land use classes, with agriculture occupying the majority share followed by forest cover. In 2023-24, out of a total geographical area of 38.86 lakh hectares, cultivated area and net area sown were 25.36 lakh hectares (65.3%) and 19.7 lakh hectares (50.8%) respectively, according to the Economic Review 2024. The land put to non-agricultural use was 6.1 lakh hectares (15.7%) while the area under forests was 10.82 lakh hectares (27.8%).
SAPCC 2.0 also underscored the importance of land use planning and zoning for the State. The document had also noted that an assessment of the vulnerability to coastal inundation/flood and landslides should be a vital component in formulating land use plans in the State.
Published – October 24, 2025 06:40 pm IST
