The hill station of Matheran and its surroundings had been notified as the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, (MoEF) Government of India by its draft notification dated February 6, 2002. The draft notification covered an area of about 498 sq.kms. including the hill range from Matheran in south to Malangad in the north and the surrounding plain land at Neral, Vangani, Badlapur, Ambernath, Panvel, Khalapur and Karjat, The MMRDA pursued with the State Government and MoEF for the rationalisation of the area of ESZ as it did not satisfy the scientific criteria recommended by a Committee constituted by MoEF.

On February 4, 2003, the MoEF has issued the final notification covering 215 sq.kms., (against 498 sq.kms.) of Forest Zone (F Zone) as shown on the sanctioned Regional Plan for Mumbai Metropolitan Region, 1996-2011. The ESZ now covers only the entire hill range from Matheran to Malangad which includes the Prabhal Fort, Peb Fort and Chanderi Fort and area of the Matheran Hill Station Municipal Council. A 'Buffer Zone' of 200 mts. is delineated along the F Zone, except where the F zone is co-terminus with the Urbanisable Zone I (U-1 Zone), Urbanisable Zone 2 (U-2 Zone) and Industrial Zone (I-Zone). A Monitoring Committee constituted by the MoEF shall oversee the development of the ESZ. Within the ESZ, the development activities shall be permitted as per the State and Local laws.

The Notification issued by the MoEF along with the map and list of villages in the ESZ is available on its web site http://envfor.nic.in