(Revised version, April 7, 2006) (originally published in locally circulated journal Atharva, vol. II, No. 6, Nov. 2007. a monthly of contemporary studies & analyses, Ponda, Goa, India) Wild panther in Miramar?. How Goa is on the verge of an environmental hara-kiri. Nandkumar M. Kamat Department of Botany, Goa University, Taleigao, Goa, India nkamat@unigoa.ac.in Introduction:- ‘ A wild panther (Panthera pardus) was trapped from a private residence in Panaji’s high class Miramar ward in April 2006” Miramar-Panaji/Panjim, is on the banks of Mandovi estuary. It is a densely populated area. How the panther reached there? Where it came from?. Is the island of Tiswadi losing its’ residual green cover?. The capital city of India’s smallest state, Goa, Panjim or Panaji, the 51 st richest town in India by bank deposits has been animatedly discussing this issue. It is indeed a surrealistic experience. Goa is on the verge of a serious environmental crisis. The signs are there on the horizon- destruction of the rich watersheds, pollution of traditional ponds and lakes, deforestation, removal of urban tree cover, cutting of the lush green hills, reclamation of the eco-fragile flood plains of the major estuaries, destruction of the low lying Khazan ecosystem, leveling of the coastal sand dunes, fragmentation of the natural habitats, interference in the natural migratory corridors of the wild animals, overuse of chemical fertilizers, Air pollution, dust pollution, impact of mining and quarrying, alluvial sand excavation, plastic waste, mountains of municipal solid waste, human-wild animal ( elephants, monkeys, panthers) conflicts, erosion of wild and agrobiodiversity, gene pools and the most dangerous of all- the ecological and cultural simplification. An ecological historian’s approach Goa has changed radically in the 20 th century. Four major environmental drivers- mining (post 1945), urbanization (post-1961), Industrialization (post-1971) and tourism (post-1972) have strongly impacted its’ ecology and economy in the past 60 years. Understanding the transformation of the ecology and environment of Goa needs an approach of an ecological historian. In this paper the focus is mostly on the developments of the post-second world war period (1945-2005). Geo-ecological setting of Goa:- Goa is a small state by area and population but it is a beautiful state. Because it is small and beautiful it is a good model for studying the ecological and environmental history. The starting point of Goa’s history is the genesis of the dot called Goa on the drifting continents. This dot has traveled in time from the south of equator to its’ present position (N 14 o 48 1 to N 15 o 48 1 Lat. And E 75 o 40 1 to E 74 o 20 1 long.) mid-way along the west coast of India. Geomorphologically greenschist supracrustals overlie a basement trondhjemitic (peninsular) gneiss and are intruded by granites, dolerites and gabbros. The late Cretaceous Deccan traps lie to the Northeast of the state. Laterite covers most formations in this wet tropical climate. Another geologically unique feature of Goa is that it has the ancient crust of earth in the form of the 3.6 billion years old basement rock-the trondhjeimitic gneiss. This can be compared to the age of the oldest rocks on earth found in Greenland, dated 3.9 billion years. The oldest rocks in Goa were