Deforestation: 12-15 million hectares of forest are lost each year.

Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter.But forests around the world are under threat from deforestation, jeopardizing these benefits. Deforestation comes in many forms, including fires, clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change. This impacts people’s livelihoods and threatens a wide range of plant and animal species. Some 46-58 thousand square miles of forest are lost each year—equivalent to 36 football fields every minute.

Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink—soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function. It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the result of deforestation.

Deforestation is a particular concern in tropical rainforests because these forests are home to much of the world’s biodiversity. For example, in the Amazon around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching. Deforestation in this region is particularly rampant near more populated areas, roads and rivers, but even remote areas have been encroached upon when valuable mahogany, gold and oil are discovered.

WWF has been working to protect forests for more than 50 years. With a focus on protected areas management and sustainable forestry, WWF works with governments, companies, communities and other stakeholders to promote certification for responsible forest management practices, combat illegal logging, reform trade policies and protect forested areas.

Deforestation can happen quickly, such as when a fire sweeps through the landscape or the forest is clear-cut to make way for an oil palm plantation. It can also happen gradually as a result of ongoing forest degradation as temperatures rise due to climate change caused by human activity. While deforestation appears to be on the decline in some countries, it remains disturbingly high in others— including Brazil and Indonesia—and a grave threat to our world’s most valuable forests still remains.

Causes

Illegal Logging

National laws regulate the production and trade of timber products at all stages, from harvesting to processing to sales. These laws can be violated in any number of ways, such as taking wood from protected areas, harvesting more than is permitted and harvesting protected species. Illegal logging occurs around the world, and in some places, illegal logging is more common than the legal variety. This destruction threatens some of the world’s most famous and valuable forests, including rainforests in the Amazon, Congo Basin, Indonesia and the forests of the Russian Far East. Illegal logging also depresses the price of timber worldwide, disadvantaging law-abiding companies, and depriving governments of revenues normally generated by duties and taxes. Poor communities near forests are often vulnerable when outsiders try to gain control over the timber nearby, which can lead to repression and human rights violations.

Fires

Fires are a natural and beneficial element of many forest landscapes, but they are problematic when they occur in the wrong place, at the wrong frequency or at the wrong severity. Each year, millions of acres of forest around the world are destroyed or degraded by fire. The same amount is lost to logging and agriculture combined. Fire is often used as a way to clear land for other uses such as planting crops. These fires not only alter the structure and composition of forests, but they can open up forests to invasive species, threaten biological diversity, alter water cycles and soil fertility, and destroy the livelihoods of the people who live in and around the forests.

Fuelwood Harvesting

Wood is still a popular fuel choice for cooking and heating around the world, and about half of the illegal removal of timber from forests is thought to be for use as fuelwood.

Millions of winged creatures are being slaughtered for food : Shocking Photos

Each year, millions of songbirds are killed for food, for profit or just for the joy of shooting something, as they move from their winter grounds in Africa to their summer breeding territories in Europe.

In Egypt, hundreds of miles of nets cover the entire coastline, catching almost every bird that makes its way to shore from across the Mediterranean Sea. In Albania, hunters set up dozens of hunting blinds inside wildlife refuges while officials turn a blind eye.

An inviting perch turns out to be a deadly trap for two warblers. With feet and wings stuck to “lime sticks,” the songbirds cannot escape. Poachers placed these decoy shrubs along a highway near the Mediterranean.

In Cyprus, trees are outfitted with glue-covered lime sticks that catch birds like flies on flypaper as they attempt to land, breaking wings as the birds struggle to free themselves. The problem is widespread and growing

as new methods and technology increase the deadly toll of the annualslaughter.

Reliable numbers don’t exist for the overall count of birds taken by poachers each year. Novelist Jonathan Franzen, on assignment for National Geographic, witnessed the migration throughout southern Europe and Egypt and estimated that a single Egyptian farmer might catch and kill more than 5,500 birds during a 30-day period in the height of migration. That number would include hundreds of golden orioles, similar numbers of hoopoes and turtledoves and many dozens of different species of smaller birds.

Franzen estimates that mist nets — nets made of line so thin as to be almost invisible to birds — catch as many 100,000 quail from a total breeding population estimated at two to three million pairs (and falling sharply year after year). Though the methods differ from region to region, the indiscriminate hunting of migratory songbirds is prevalent throughout Europe and the Middle East and results in the loss of millions of birds annually from nearly every species that migrates through the area. Franzen cites examples from France, Spain, Italy, Albania, Cyprus and Egypt.

A whitethroat, en route to winter grounds in Africa, is caught on a lime stick. Image from the July 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine.

David Guttenfelder is best-known for his war photography from places like Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. While on special assignment for National Geographic, he took on a more delicate topic: migrating songbirds.

What he soon discovered is that the widespread slaughter of songbirds for food and amusement conjures up the same emotions as covering war-torn territories. Across the Mediterranean, millions of these winged creatures are being slaughtered for food, for profit, and for sport.
Guttenfelder joins the show to talk about his latest project. 

After crossing the Mediterranean on their way south, golden orioles must brave more than a thousand miles of Saharan desert. The Al Maghrah oasis is a welcome spot of green in this sea of sand. But hunters lie in wait for the weary birds.

This poacher’s tray of frozen songbirds, most only inches long, was confiscated by forest rangers. Illegally hunted birds are secretly served as a delicacy in restaurants and homes.

 A young Bedouin in the Western Desert shows off a sample from his morning haul: a golden oriole rich in fat after a summer in Europe. Bedouin tend to eat what they catch. Plucked and fried, this two-ounce bird will provide two bites of meat.

 At the market in El Daba, dead songbirds are counted. Merchants sell both live and dead birds at specialty markets in towns along the coast. When customers purchase them live, the merchants kill and pluck them on the spot.

 Large trees covered in nets can snare thousands of songbirds along the coast during migration. Some of those birds—roasted and stuffed with rice—end up as the main course of a midday meal.

 Two forest rangers, members of a special police unit devoted to poaching, question a couple after they saw the man, at far right, carrying a shotgun near an illegal net in Brescia. Last fall the police caught 43 people in one antipoaching operation.

 Confiscated from a poacher in Brescia, this robin will be released to fly away into an uncertain world, where habitat is threatened and predators and poachers await. The survival of songbirds depends in part upon eliminating illegal hunting.

Nets drape the first trees that migrating birds see after crossing the Mediterranean. The birds fly into the open end of the net and can’t find their way out, which makes it easy for this boy to catch a chiffchaff.

 A tethered raptor serves as a trapper’s spotter. When the bird spies a falcon, it looks up. This alerts the trapper to release a small bird wearing a snare, trapping the falcon if it comes in for the kill. Falconers pay up to $35,000 for a live falcon.

A metal snap trap operates like a mousetrap, with berries as the bait. Catching birds this way is illegal, but poachers still use the traps in the northern woods. This European robin, fatally pinned by its neck and foot, was discovered by rangers on patrol.

 A dead garganey floats among lifelike decoys that lured it within shooting range. Few citizens had guns until the national armories were ransacked in 1997. Now Albania is awash in firearms, and the coast has become lethal for migrating birds.

 Volunteers with the Committee Against Bird Slaughter sneak into a grove where a farmer has just placed lime sticks to snag unwary birds. The organization dismantled nearly 9,000 traps on Cyprus last year.

A whitethroat, en route to winter grounds in Africa, is caught on a lime stick.

After prying this blackcap from a lime stick, the songbird’s rescuer uses his saliva to remove sticky plum tree sap from its feathers and feet so that it can safely fly when released.

Interview Highlights:  

On how came to focus on birds as a subject:
"To be honest, I wasn't a bird watcher. I've become one now. It's not my background. I've spent most of my career covering human conflict. I came to this story through National Geographic for the opportunity to do something a little bit different and experience a completely different kind of conflict."

On the conflict in the world of birds:
"We were focusing specifically on what's going on around the Mediterranean. There are roughly 5 billion birds that migrate across twice a year. The situation is shocking to me. There were close to a billion birds that are killed during this passage. Guns, nets, traps, snares and these really horrifying sticky lime sticks that are put in trees and trap birds when they land on their way across the sea."

On the birds being targeted and why:
"It's the broadest number of species you can imagine, from the tiniest songbirds, warblers, to raptors, to highly threatened endangered waders. People kill them primarily for food. It's a tradition in much of the Mediterranean. People kill them for sport, people kill them because it's very, very profitable. Even the tiniest of songbirds in Europe are sold as delicacies for a very high price, as much as $10 for one bird on a plate."

On what he felt when he took photos of trapped birds:
"My first experience in seeing many of these species for the first time in real life was to see them hanging and struggling and desperately trying to release themselves from this glue. Breaking their wings, ripping off their flight feathers, it's a really shocking thing to see. I was working with environmental activists who were trying to do a number of things, and the most immediate thing they were doing was pulling them down and releasing them."

On activists putting birds in their mouth to wash sap off:
"When they pull the birds down, if the birds have not already injured themselves, or haven't been hanging too long and can be set free, they have to first be cleaned. It turns out the best way to do that is to actually put the bird in your mouth. The tree sap is sweet and dissolves on your tongue, so the activists would put the feet of the birds into their mouth and suck on them. I did this too, a couple of times while I was photographing them, mainly, but I did it as well when there were just too many birds and [the activists] needed help. It's a life-affirming thing to do, to help a bird in that way."

On the irony of getting these beautiful shots while the birds are trapped:
"That's true. I'm looking at these birds and I'm studying them very closely. I can see all the colors, I can touch them, it's an unusual look at a bird. But then you stop and remind yourself that birds aren't supposed to be like this. The reason that we love birds is that they're free and the glimpses that we have of them are fleeting."

Oh his colleagues' reaction to this bird photographing project:
"I've developed a certain identity as 'that guy,' so my friends, who were all in Syria the year I was in Albania and Egypt photographing songbirds, were saying, 'Hey, what's going on? You're a bird photographer now.' Some of my hardened war photographers gave me a hard time, but my answer to them was that I had discovered that this was a war of its own kind."

On how his experience with human conflict helped him photograph the birds:
"I was asked to do this because of my background. I went to places where I had to befriend men with weapons in the middle of the desert. In Cyprus, the activists who were out there trying to dismantle the limesticks and the mist nets and confronting the poachers, some of them were attacked. Some were grievously injured. I have to say, over many years of working and covering war, covering people doing terrible things to one another, I think you develop a thick skin. You can become a bit cynical, and surprisingly, me going out in the field, taking a look at little birds, I think it made me take my thick skin off for a moment."

Photograph by David Guttenfelder

Rain shadow regions in india

Satichiwadi lies in India's rain shadow, an especially water-deprived swath of land that includes much of central Maharashtra. Each year after the summer monsoon pounds the west coast of India, it moves inward across the plains and bumps against the 5,000-foot peaks of the Western Ghats, where the clouds stall out, leaving the leeward side punishingly dry.

In an effort to lessen their dependence on the monsoon, the village's residents had signed on to an ambitious, three-year watershed program designed to make more efficient use of what little rain does fall. The program was facilitated by a nonprofit group called the Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR), but the work—a major relandscaping of much of the valley—was being done by the villagers themselves. Teams of farmers spent an average of five days a week digging, moving soil, and planting seedlings along the ridgelines. WOTR, which has led similar projects in more than 200 villages in central India, paid the villagers for roughly 80 percent of the hours worked but also required every family to contribute free labor to the project every month—a deliberate move to get everyone invested.

From the vantage point of the temple, the effort was evident: Beyond the small grids of tile-roofed mud homes and the sun-crisped patchwork of dry fields, many of the russet brown hillsides had been terraced, and a number of freshly dug trenches sat waiting to catch the rain. If only, of course, the rain would come.

In Satichiwadi the anticipation was high. "Very soon," Bhaskar said, "we will know the value of this work."

Complex and capricious, the South Asian monsoon—widely considered the most powerful seasonal climate system on Earth, affecting nearly half the world's population—has never been easy to predict. And with global warming skewing weather patterns, it's not just the scientists who are confounded. Farmers whose families for generations have used the Panchangam, a thick almanac detailing the movement of the Hindu constellations, to determine when the monsoon rains are due and thus when to plant their crops, lament that their system no longer works reliably.

Kasturi Rangan and Madhav Gadgil report in Malayalam

ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ, കസ്തൂരി രംഗൻ സമിതി റിപ്പോര്ട്ട്

ഇന്ത്യയുടെ തെക്കുഭാഗത്തായി സ്ഥിതിചെയ്യുന്ന പശ്ചിമഘട്ട മലനിരകളും അതിനോടനുബന്ധിച്ച പ്രദേശങ്ങളും അടങ്ങുന്ന പാരിസ്ഥിതിക വ്യൂഹം നേരിടുന്ന പ്രശ്നങ്ങൾ സംബന്ധിച്ച് പഠിച്ച് റിപ്പോർട്ട് സമർപ്പിക്കുന്നതിനായി ഇന്ത്യാ ഗവൺമെന്റിന്റെ വനം - പരിസ്ഥിതി മന്ത്രാലയം രൂപീകരിച്ച വിദഗ്ദ്ധ സമിതിയാണ് പശ്ചിമഘട്ട പരിസ്ഥിതിവിദഗ്ദ്ധ സമിതി (വെസ്റ്റേൺ ഘട്ട് ഇക്കോളജി എക്സ്പർട്ട് പാനൽ - WGEEP). ജൈവ വൈവിദ്ധ്യ - പരിസ്ഥിതി സംരക്ഷണ മേഖലകളിലെ 14 വിദഗ്ദ്ധർ അടങ്ങിയ ഈ സമിതി തയ്യാറാക്കിയ റിപ്പോർട്ട്, അതിന്റെ അദ്ധ്യക്ഷനായിരുന്ന മാധവ് ഗാഡ്ഗിലിന്റെ പേരിൽ ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ കമ്മറ്റി റിപ്പോർട്ട് എന്നാണ് അറിയപ്പെടുന്നത്.

രൂപീകരണ പശ്ചാത്തലം

2010 മാർച്ചിൽ അന്നത്തെ കേന്ദ്ര വനം - പരിസ്ഥിതി മന്ത്രിയായിരുന്ന ജയറാം രമേഷ് ആണ് പശ്ചിമഘട്ട പരിസ്ഥിതി സംബന്ധിച്ച് പഠിക്കുന്നതിനായി ഈ വിദഗ്ദ്ധ സമിതിയെ നിയോഗിച്ചത്. ഇന്ത്യയുടെ 40 ശതമാനത്തോളം വരുന്ന ഭൂപ്രദേശങ്ങൾ പശ്ചിമഘട്ട മലനിരകളോട് ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട പരിസ്ഥിതിവ്യൂഹത്തിന്റെ സ്വാധീന പ്രദേശങ്ങളായി വരുന്നുണ്ട്. ഈ മേഖലയില അനിയന്ത്രിതമായ പൃകൃതി ചൂഷണത്തിന് നിയന്ത്രണം ഏർപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതിനായി പശ്ചിമഘട്ടത്തിന് പ്രത്യേക പരിഗണനകൊടുത്തുകൊണ്ടുള്ള സംരക്ഷണ പ്രക്രിയയ്ക്ക് തുടക്കമിടണമെന്നത് കാലങ്ങളായുള്ള ജനകീയ ആവശ്യമായിരുന്നു. പശ്ചിമഘട്ട സംരക്ഷണവുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട് 2010 ഫെബ്രുവരിയിൽ നീലഗിരി മലകളിലെ കോത്തഗിരിയിൽ നടന്ന പാരിസ്ഥിതി പ്രവർത്തകരുടെ സമ്മേളനത്തിലാണ് ഈ സമിതി രൂപീകരിച്ചുകൊണ്ടുള്ള പ്രഖ്യാപനം ജയറാം രമേഷ് നടത്തിയത്.

പരിസ്ഥിതി സംഘടനകളും ശാസ്ത്ര-സാങ്കേതിക സമൂഹവുമൊക്കെയായി നടത്തിയ വിശദമായ സംവാദങ്ങൾക്കും സാങ്കേതിക ചർച്ചകൾക്കും അഭിപ്രായ രൂപീകരണവും നടത്തിയതിനുശേഷം 2011 ഓഗസ്റ്റ് 31 നാണ് ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതി തങ്ങളുടെ 522 പേജുള്ള റിപ്പോർട്ട് സർക്കാരിന് സമർപ്പിച്ചത്.

സമിതി അംഗങ്ങൾ

പ്രൊഫ. മാധവ് ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ (അദ്ധ്യക്ഷൻ), ബി.ജെ. കൃഷ്ണൻ, ഡോ. കെ.എൻ. ഗണേഷയ്യ, ഡോ. വി.എസ്. വിജയൻ, പ്രോഫ. റെനീ ബോർഗസ്, പ്രോഫ. ആർ. സുകുമാർ, ഡോ. ലിജിയ നൊറോന്ഹ, വിദ്യ എസ്. നായക്, ഡോ. ഡി.കെ. സുബ്രഹ്മണ്യം, ഡോ. ആർ.വി. വർമ്മ (കേരള സംസ്ഥാന ജൈവവൈവിദ്ധ്യ ബോർഡ്), ചെയർമാൻ, ദേശീയ ജൈവവൈവിദ്ധ്യ അതോറിറ്റി, പ്രൊഫ. സി.പി. ഗൌതം (കേന്ദ്ര മലിനികരണ നിയന്ത്രണ ബോർഡ്), ഡോ. ആർ.ആർ. നവൽഗുണ്ട് (സ്പേസ് ആപ്ലിക്കേഷൻ സെന്റർ), ഡോ. ജി.വി. സുബ്രഹ്മണ്യം (ശാസ്ത്രസാങ്കേതിക പരിസ്ഥിതി മന്ത്രാലയം ഉപദേശകൻ)

പശ്ചിമഘട്ടത്തിന്റെ അതിരുകൾ

പരിസ്ഥിതിലോലമെന്ന വിഭാഗത്തിൽ പെടുത്തേണ്ട പശ്ചിമഘട്ടത്തിന്റെ അതിരുകൾ ഏതെന്നതാണ് സമിതി പ്രധാനമായും നിർണ്ണയിച്ച ഒരു കാര്യം. മഹാരാഷ്ട്ര, ഗോവ, കർണ്ണാടക, തമിഴ്‌നാട്, കേരളം എന്നീ സംസ്ഥാനങ്ങളിൽ കൂടി അറബിക്കടലിന് സമാന്തരമായി കടന്നുപോകുന്ന ഏതാണ്ട് 1490 കി.മീ. ദൈർഘ്യവും കുറഞ്ഞത് 48 കി.മീ. മുതൽ 210 കി.മീ. വരെ പരമാവധി വീതിയും 129037 ചതുരശ്ര കി.മീ വിസ്‌തൃതിയുമുള്ള പശ്ചിമഘട്ട മലനിരകളാണ് സമിതിയുടെ പഠനത്തിന് വിധേയമായത്. ഇത് മഹാരാഷ്ട്രയിലെ താപി നദിയുടെ തീരത്തുനിന്നും ആരംഭിച്ച് തെക്കോട്ട് കന്യാകുമാരിയിൽ വരെ വ്യാപിച്ചു കിടക്കുന്ന 8°19′8″N 72°56′24″E മുതൽ 21°16′24″N 78°19′40″E വരെയുള്ള അക്ഷാംശ രേഖാംശാ പ്രദേശമാണ്.

സമിതിക്ക് ലഭിച്ച ഉത്തരവാദിത്വങ്ങൾ

താഴെപറയുന്ന കാര്യങ്ങൾ വിലയിരുത്തുന്നതിനായുള്ള അനുശാസനമാണ് മാധവ് ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതിക്ക് സർക്കാർ നൽകിയത്:

1. പശ്ചിമഘട്ട മേഖലയുടെ നിലവിലുള്ള പാരിസ്ഥിതിക സ്ഥിതി വിശകലനം ചെയ്യുക.
2. 1986 ലെ പരിസ്ഥിതി (സംരക്ഷണ) നിയമം പ്രകാരം പശ്ചിമഘട്ടമേഘലയിലെ പാരിസ്ഥിതിലോല പ്രദേശങ്ങളായി വിജ്ഞാപനം ചെയ്യേണ്ട പ്രദേശങ്ങൾ ഏതൊക്കെയെന്ന് കണ്ടെത്തി അതിരടയാളപ്പെടുത്തുക. ഇപ്രകാരം ചെയ്യുന്നതിലേക്ക് നിലവിലുള്ള റാം മോഹൻ കമ്മറ്റി റിപ്പോർട്ട്, സുപ്രീംകോടതി നിർദ്ദേശങ്ങൾ, ദേശീയ വന്യജീവി ബോർഡിന്റെ ശുപാർശകൾ എന്നിവ സമിതി പരിഗണിക്കുക, ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട സംസ്ഥാന ഗവൺമെന്റുകളോട് ആരായുക.
3. ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട മേഖലകളിലെ ജനങ്ങളും സർക്കാരുകളും ചേർന്നുള്ള സമഗ്ര സമ്പർക്കത്തിലൂടെ പശ്ചിമഘട്ട മേഖലയുടെ സംരക്ഷണം, പരിപാലനം, പുനരുജ്ജീവനം തുടങ്ങിയവയ്കാവശ്യമായ ശുപാർശകൾ സമർപ്പിക്കുക.
4. പരിസ്ഥിതി സംരക്ഷണ നിയമപ്രകാരം ഇന്ത്യാ ഗവൺമെന്റിന്റെ വനം - പരിസ്ഥിതി മന്ത്രാലയം ഈ പ്രദേശങ്ങളെ പരിസ്ഥിതി ലോല പ്രദേശമായി വിജ്ഞാപനം നടത്തുന്നതിന്റെ കാര്യക്ഷമമായ നടത്തിപ്പിനാവശ്യമായ മാനദണ്ഡങ്ങൾ നിർദ്ദേശിക്കുക.
5. ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട എല്ലാ സംസ്ഥാനങ്ങളുടെയും പിന്തുണയോടെ, പ്രദേശത്തിന്റെ പാരിസ്ഥിതിക പരിപാലനത്തിനും സുസ്ഥിര വികസനത്തിനും ഉതകുന്ന ഒരു പ്രൊഫണൽ സംവിധാനമായി, പരിസ്ഥിതി സംരക്ഷണ നിയമപ്രകാരമുള്ള ഒരു പശ്ചിമഘട്ട പരിസ്ഥിതി അതോറിറ്റി രൂപീകരിക്കുന്നതിന്റെ നടപടിക്രമങ്ങൾ ശുപാർശ ചെയ്യുക.
6. പശ്ചിമഘട്ടത്തിന്റെ പരിസര - പരിസ്ഥിതി സംബന്ധമായി, കേന്ദ്ര വനം - പരിസ്ഥിതി മന്ത്രാലയം പരാമർശിക്കുന്നടക്കമുള്ള മറ്റെല്ലാ വിഷയങ്ങളും കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യുക.
7. അതിരപ്പള്ളി, ഗുണ്ടിയ ജനലവൈദ്യുത പദ്ധതികൾ, ഗോവയിലെയും തീരപ്രദേശമുൾക്കൊള്ളുന്ന മഹാരാഷ്ട്രയിലെ രത്നഗിരി, സിന്ദുദുർഗ് ജില്ലകളിലെയും പുതിയ ഖനന അനുമതികൾക്ക് മോറൊട്ടോറിയം പ്രഖ്യാപിക്കൽ തുടങ്ങിയവ സംബന്ധിച്ച ശുപാർശകളും സമിതിയുടെ അനുശാസനത്തിൽ ഉൾക്കൊള്ളിക്കുന്നതിനായി പരിസ്ഥിതി മന്ത്രാലയും പിന്നീട് ആവശ്യപ്പെടുകയുണ്ടായി. 

കസ്തൂരി രംഗൻ സമിതി റിപ്പോർട്ട്

മാധവ് ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതിയുടെ ഈ റിപ്പോർട്ട് സംബന്ധിച്ച് ഒരു വിഭാഗം ജനങ്ങളും സംസ്ഥാന സർക്കാരുകളും കടുത്ത ആശങ്ക ഉന്നയിക്കുകയും വിവിധ രാഷ്ട്രീയ കക്ഷികൾ ഇതിനെതിരെ ശക്തമായ നിലപാടെടുക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. ഇതിനെത്തുടർന്ന് ഈ ആശങ്കൾ പരിഗണിച്ചും ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതി ശുപാർശകൾ വിലയിരുത്തിയും പ്രത്യേകം റിപ്പോർട്ട് സമർപ്പിക്കുക എന്ന നിർദ്ദേശത്തോടെ കേന്ദ്ര ആസൂത്രണ കമ്മീഷൻ അംഗം കെ. കസ്തൂരി രംഗന്റെ നേതൃത്വത്തിലുള്ള മറ്റൊരു സമതിയെ കേന്ദ്ര സർക്കാർ നിയോഗിച്ചു.

എന്നാൽ വിശദമായ വിലയിരുത്തലിനുശേഷവും ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതി ശുപാർശകളെ തത്വത്തിൽ അംഗീകരിക്കുന്ന നിലപാടാണ് കസ്തൂരി രംഗൻ സമിതിയും മുന്നോട്ട് വെച്ചത്. അതേസമയം സുപ്രധാനമായ ചില മേഖലകളിൽ കാതലായ മാറ്റങ്ങളും നിർദ്ദേശിച്ചു. പശ്ചിമഘട്ട മലനിരകളുടെ നാലിൽ മൂന്ന് ഭാഗവും പരിസ്ഥിതി ദുർബല പ്രദേശമായി പ്രഖ്യാപിച്ചുകൊണ്ടുള്ള ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതി ശുപാർശകളിൽ വിയോജിപ്പ് രേഖപ്പെടുത്തി പശ്ചിമഘട്ട മലനിരകളുടെ ഏകദേശം 37 ശതമാനം ഇപ്രകാരമുള്ള പ്രദേശമാണെന്ന് കസ്തൂരിരങ്കൻ സമിതി വിലയിരുത്തി. ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ കമ്മറ്റി ശുപാർശ ചെയ്ത മൂന്നു തരം പരിസ്ഥിതി സംവേദക മേഖലകൾക്കു പകരം ഒറ്റ മേഖലയെ മാത്രം സംരക്ഷിക്കാനാണ് നിർദ്ദേശം. കേരളത്തിലെ റിസർവ്, നിക്ഷിപ്ത വന മേഖലകൾ പോലും പൂർണമായി സംരക്ഷിക്കാൻ സമിതി ശുപാർശ ചെയ്യുന്നില്ല. ഉയർന്ന വന മേഖല ഉൾപ്പെടുന്ന കണ്ണൂർ ജില്ലയിലെ തളിപ്പറമ്പ് താലൂക്കിലെ ഒറ്റ വില്ലേജും പരിസ്ഥിതി സംവേദക മേഖലയായി പട്ടികയിലില്ലായെന്നത് പരിസ്ഥിതി പ്രവർത്തകരുടെ വിമർശനത്തിനു വിധേയമായിട്ടുണ്ട്. തലശ്ശേരി താലൂക്കിലെയും വനമേഖല പൂർണമായി സംരക്ഷിക്കപ്പെടേണ്ട പ്രദേശത്തിൻറെ പട്ടികയിലില്ല. മൂന്ന് വില്ലേജുകൾ മാത്രമാണ് പട്ടികയിലുള്ളത്. ഫലത്തിൽ ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതി റിപ്പോർട്ടിൻറെ അന്തസത്ത ഉൾക്കൊള്ളാതെയും പരിസ്ഥിതി സംരക്ഷണത്തിനുള്ള മാർഗങ്ങൾ വ്യക്തമായി നിർദ്ദേശിക്കാടെയുമാണ് ഈ റിപ്പോർട്ട് തയ്യാറാക്കിയിരിക്കുന്നത്. വിവിധ സംസ്ഥാന സർക്കാരുകളുടെയും കുടിയേറ്റക്കാരുടെ പേരിൽ ചില എൻ.ജി.ഒ സംഘടനകളുടെയും നിവേദനങ്ങളുടെ അടിസ്ഥാനത്തിലാണ് കാതലായ മാറ്റങ്ങൾ വരുത്തിയിരിക്കുന്നത്.പരിസ്ഥിതി സംവേദക മേഖലകളിലെ വികസനപ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളിൽ ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതി നിർദ്ദേശിച്ച കർശനനിയന്ത്രണങ്ങൾ തന്നെ നടപ്പാക്കണമെന്നും യാതൊരുവിധ ഖനനപ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളും ഇപ്രകാരമുള്ള പരിസ്ഥിതി ദുർബല പ്രദേശങ്ങളിൽ അനുവദിക്കുവാൻ പാടില്ലെന്നും സമിതി നിർദ്ദേശിക്കുന്നുണ്ട്. അതുപോലെ ഈ മേഖലയിലെ അൻപത് വർഷത്തിന് മുകളിൽ പ്രായമുള്ള അണക്കെട്ടുകൾ പ്രവർത്തനമവസാനിപ്പിക്കണമെന്ന നിർദ്ദേശത്തോടും കസ്തൂരിരംഗൻ സമിതി വിയോജിച്ചു. അവ അറ്റകുറ്റപ്പണികൾ നടത്തി സംരക്ഷിക്കാവുന്നവയാണെന്ന അഭിപ്രായമാണ് ഈ സമിതി പ്രകടിപ്പിച്ചത്. എന്നാൽ അതിരപ്പള്ളി ജലവൈദ്യുത പദ്ധതിയെ എതിർത്തുകൊണ്ടുള്ള ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ സമിതി ശുപാർശയെ ഈ സമിതിയും പിൻതാങ്ങിയെങ്കിലും പുതിയ പഠന റിപ്പോർട്ടുമായി അംഗീകാരത്തിനായി അപേക്ഷിക്കണമെന്നു കേരള സർക്കാരിനോടു നിർദ്ദേശിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. കസ്തൂരി രംഗൻ റിപ്പോർട്ട് തള്ളിക്കളയണമെന്നും പശ്ചിമഘട്ട സംരക്ഷണത്തിനായി ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ കമ്മറ്റി റിപ്പോർട്ട ചർച്ച ചെയ്തു നടപ്പാക്കണമെന്നും കേരളത്തിലെ പ്രമുഖ പരിസ്ഥിതി സംഘടനയായ കേരള ശാസ്ത്രസാഹിത്യ പരിഷത്ത് സംസ്ഥാന വാർഷികം പ്രമേയത്തിലൂടെ സർക്കാരുകളോട് ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടു.

കസ്തൂരിരംഗന്‍ റിപ്പോർട്ട്  പൂർണ രൂപത്തിൽ വായിക്കുക: ECOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE AREAS IN WESTERN GHATS

മാധവ് ഗാഡ്ഗിൽ റിപ്പോർട്ട്  പൂർണ രൂപത്തിൽ വായിക്കുക:  WESTERN GHATS ESA REPORT

Courtesy: wikipedia

Decision to notify areas in Western Ghats as ESA 'betrayal': Greens

ECOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE AREAS IN WESTERN GHATS
Introduction

• The Western Ghats was declared as an ecological hotspot in 1988. A large number of plants, amphibians, birds, reptiles, mammals are endemic to this region. This area has a number of protected areas including 2 biosphere reserves, 14 national parks and several wild life sanctuaries. Besides,many regions are declared as reserve forests.

• In recent times,
due to anthropogenic pressures the intactness of the Western Ghats is getting fragmented day-by-day. Most of the ecosystem, which is outside protected area is now in danger. The habitat of plants and animals is also threatened due to large-scale deforestation and destruction of forests.

What is ecological sensitivity;many definitions offered,unlikely that clarity will emerge,social concerns an important basis. We offer the following:

Define ecological sensitivity:concerns the Western Ghats ecosystem as a single unit; its ability to cope with environmental stresses – stresses like various human induced developments and their impacts;future impacts due to climate change; essentially the ecological resilience and how it might vary from landscape to landscape;

The most sensitive landscapes are those with the least resilience;Ecological Resilience may be assessed based on our understanding of trends of change in communities of woody plants, amphibians and birds or vertebrate animals in general;it is the lag-time (the time taken by different landscapes and their biological communities to come back to the pre-disturbance state; we may adopt the following working definition:Definitionof ESA: “An ecological sensitive area (ESA) is a bio-climatic unit (as demarcated by entire landscapes) in the Western Ghats wherein human impacts have locally caused irreversible changes in the structure of biological communities (as evident in number/ composition of species and their relative abundances) and their natural habitats”
Protected areas and ESA’s

• Protected areas in contrast to ESA’s: Extensive, standard, heavy and rigid restrictions, no scope for adaptive management, largely focused on flagship species and their habitats, leaves out small, unique habitats

• ESA’s may have Protected areas embedded in them, of various extents, could focus on small special habitats, flexible, adaptive regime of regulation, Whole HP,Sikkim as examples

Proposed criteria

Biological- cultural/ geo-climatic/ People’s perceptions
Biological: Richness: organismal and habitat; Rarity: organismal and habitat;
Biologcial productivity with NDVI and extent of aquatic habitats as the basis; cultural significance

Goeclimatic: Topography: steep slopes, high altitudes; Precipitation: high rainfall;

People’s perceptions: Public and Local bodies, especially Zilla Panchayats; invite people to submit perceptions, rationale and desired set of regulations

Study area: Western Ghats region of all six states(Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat)
Methodology: Western Ghats science database components:

1 .Topography database :The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from ASTER( Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) elevation data, at a spatial resolution of 30 m, would enable to derive slope, aspect of any given point.The data has a raster structure.

2 Climate: The time series data on rainfall by the IMD is an important constituent. Essentially the data is point information. The FIP has also information on the bioclimate for the vegetation types of Western Ghats.

3 Land use /Land cover maps: The nation wide LU/LC information being generated by ISRO at 56 m resolution provides state of land cover for 2009 vintage. For the purpose of ESA exercise, following broad classes will be used. These are Forest, Agriculture,water /wetlands, settlements and barren areas

4 Plant biodiversity maps: The ISRO has, in its nation wide study, generated vegetation types and their spatial distribution with landscape ecological attributes such as fragmentation, patchiness and others. These inputs will also constitute a database for ESA.

5 Roads and settlements: A measure of human activity would be obtained by using these datasets.

6 Human population: Data on aggregated taluk level human population will be made use of.

7 Corridors: As much of our extant biodivesrity is existing outside the formal protected areas. It would be essential to look into information on Corridors. {This will be derived information?}

8 Data on plants: A geographic grid referenced (5X5 ') plant species database available with UAS will be made use of. Possibly endemic, rare, endangered threatened species status will be practical criteria to be used.

9 Data on animal species: Distribution information of approx 400 endemic species of vertebrates, butterflies of Western Ghats would be generated on half degree square grid for the WG (Careearth datasets).


Maps based on data analysis

1) Generate two generic maps; assigning sensitivity levels; one based on Biological data and the other on Goeclimatic data:

2) Classify the entire Western Ghats into landscapes of varying levels of ecological sensitivity

3) Grade the different landscapes along a scale of decreasing sensitivity; example Grade I being the most sensitive, Grade II less sensitive and so on

4) List out the salient physiographic (including climate) and ecological attributes adopted in grading landscapes: Level 1: Geo-climatic attributes: Rainfall, length of the dry season (as inferred from the number of rainy days), altitude (standard low, medium, high and montane as that adopted by the French Institute in their vegetation maps), slope, vegetation type, fragmentation, connectivity and corridors, settlements, road network; all this information presented on a grid map of size 0.5deg x 0.5deg between 8 degN and 21degN; 73 degE and 78 degE; covering 100 grids of approximately 55km x 55km. at this scale the largest single bio- climatic unit (as defined by a single grid) will be around 3000km2; most others will be smaller as the western Grids will include the Arabian sea and the eastern grids, the Plateau outside the limits of the Western Ghats.

Level 2: Biological Attributes: essentially information on endemic species limited to 1) endemic angiosperms (c. 1700spp as available in Dr Ganeshiah’s database), 2) endemic butterflies (37 species), 3) endemic fishes (c. 130 spp), 4) endemic amphibians (c. 125 species), 5) endemic reptiles (c. 100 species), 6) endemic birds (19 species), and 7) endemic mammals (13-15 species); faunal data will be extracted from the NBSAP prepared by RJRD/Care Earth; the information when superimposed on the Geo-climate map will provide grid-wise information on the number of endemic species in selected classes of plants and animals. It is also possible to add information on wild relatives of crop plants if available on these grids. Further, the distribution of Protected Areas on the grids can also been shown.

5) Prepare a map of the entire Western Ghats delineating landscapes by their respective ecological sensitivity grade; this can primarily be guided by the geo-climate especially total annual rainfall and length of the dry season; Pascal (1988) describes the variation in the length of the dry season; there is a north-south and east-west gradient; north-south it is like this; Travancore (between Trivandrum and Allepey the dry period is 3-4 months and in the higher elevation 2-3 months; between Palghat Gap and 13deg 30’ (around Dakshina Kannada) it is it is 4-5 months; between 13deg 30’ and 14deg 15’ (Honnavar) it is 5-6 months; north of 17deg 49’ (Harnai) it exceeds 7 months. Similarly, there is an east-west gradient although not so marked; along the east in the southern Ghats (south of Palghat) the dry season varies from 3-8 months over a distance of just 17km; around Palghat gap it is 5-8 months over 30km. near Chickamagalur, it varies from 5-8 over 55km eastwards. Most significant is in Palni Hills (foothills) 5-12 months; 50% of the years it has been 7-9 months.
6) The map will generally guide the delineation of any landscape as ecologically sensitive area (ESA)

7) Biological communities and species can be used as tools for prioritizing landscapes

8) Biological communities and species should have one or more characteristics such as being relic, representative,endemic,endangered, of great human use value,etc

9) All other values being equal, priority should be accorded to landscapes that are likely to complement ongoing conservation efforts when delineated as ESA
Tentatively the following classes have been suggested: (Grade I most sensitive) Grade I:Type A; Long dry seasons (6-9m); Wet (5000-9000mm);Medium-high

steepness;Western Ghats ; north of 13o N;Typically what is often described as northern Western Ghats ; Example Maharashtra

 
Grade I: Type B; Montane (above 1500m); E & NE aspect; Steepness – high; Dry-moist; Medium-long dry season; Palni Hills and Eastern Anaimalai Hills; Example Kodaikanal

Grade II Landscapes: Pleistocene Landscapes High to Montane altitude; W-SW aspect; Steepness – high; Wet; Short-medium dry season; Nilgiri Hills,Anaimalai Hills, High Ranges & other Hills in the southern Western Ghats

Grade III Landscapes: watersheds; unique hydrological cycles; High density of first order streams;Torrents, cascades and waterfalls

Grade IV Landscapes: hill-coast ecotonesTo be managed in conjunction with CRZ

notification/rules/amendments; Low elevation; Coasts of north central Western Ghats; Example – Karwar, Honnavar

Grade V Landscapes: cultural landscapes; Landscapes that have preserved pre-colonial human traditions & livelihoods; High density of sacred landscape elements; Vayal, traditional cardamom, betel-nut cultivations, others (Data on crop plants and wild relatives from NBPGR will be useful here)

Grade VI Landscapes; Landscapes that have shown the most resilience;does not however mean they are to be thrown open to further abuse
  Assessment at Levels 2: Biological attributes: prioritization; Biological Communities; Relic, Representative; Restricted range; High species richness; High levels of endemism; High ecological service value; Species – Endemic; Endangered; Sacred/Venerated; High human use value

Class-1 or Critical Level-1 ESA: Are those that are identified as sensitive by all the three approaches independently- viz., geo-climatic, biological and public perception. These can be straight away listed and given to local managers and research workers to demarcate the exact boundaries to be notified as the CR- 1 ESAsa

Class-2 or Critical Level-2 ESA: Identified as sensitive based on geo-climatic and biological but not essentially by the public perception. These need to be identified as generic areas and much more fine scale zonation can be done by field visits and local details.

Class-3 or Critical Level-3 ESA : Identified as sensitive by any of the approaches but those we can not immediately conclude. They need to be taken for further debate and discussion both among the scientific groups, public and forest / biodiversity managers.

Execution of the project
1. Dr. S N Prasad -SACON (-Investigator)
2.Dr. Ranjit Daniels – Care Earth (Investigator)
3.Representatives from NRSC, ISRO, Hyderabad
4.Dr KN Ganeshiah, (Investigator)UAS,Bangalore

Poaching of Asian elephants for Ivory

The continually growing human population of tropical Asia has encroached on the elephant's dense but dwindling forest habitat. About 20% of the world's human population lives in or near the present range of the Asian elephant.

Conflict, loss of land and hunting



Fierce competition for living space has resulted in human suffering, a dramatic loss of forest cover, and reduced Asian elephant numbers to between 25,600 and 32,750 animals in the wild.
Asian elephant populations are highly fragmented, with fewer than 10 populations comprising more than 1,000 individuals in a contiguous area, greatly decreasing their chances for survival.

Most of the national parks and reserves where elephants occur are too small to accommodate viable elephant populations. The conversion of forested areas to agricultural use also leads to serious elephant-human conflicts. In India, up to 300 people are killed by elephants each year.

Habitat loss and fragmentation

In the face of rapidly growing human populations, the Asian elephants' habitat is shrinking fast and wild elephant populations are mostly small, isolated, and unable to mingle as ancient migratory routes are cut off by human settlements.

Large development projects (such as dams, roads, mines and industrial complexes), plantations and spreading human settlements have fragmented what was once contiguous elephant habitat into small fragments.

Incidents of elephants raiding crops and villages are on the rise. This causes losses to human property and, sometimes, human lives. Retaliation by

villagers often results in killings of these elephants. Experts already consider such confrontations to be the leading cause of elephant deaths in Asia.

In some countries, the government provides compensation for crop damage or deaths caused by elephants, but there is still often strong political pressure on wildlife authorities to eliminate elephants near populated regions. As human populations increase, elephant-human conflicts are likely to rise.


Illegal hunting and trade
In Asian elephants, only males carry tusks and therefore poaching is aimed exclusively at males. Selective removal of tuskers for their ivory may lead to an increase in the proportion of tuskless males in the population.

Poaching of Asian elephants for ivory and meat remains a serious problem in many countries, especially in southern India (where 90% of the bulls are tuskers) and in north-east India where some people eat elephant meat.

A 1997 TRAFFIC report indicated that, seven years after international trade in ivory was banned, illegal commerce continued in the Far East, with South Korea and Taiwan being major markets. However, most of this illegal ivory appeared to come from African sources, rather than from Asian elephants.

Capture of wild elephants

The capture of wild elephants for domestic use has become a threat to wild populations where numbers have been seriously reduced. India, Vietnam, and Myanmar have banned capture in order to conserve their wild herds, but in Myanmar elephants are still caught each year for the timber industry or the illegal wildlife trade.

Unfortunately, crude capture methods have led to a high mortality level. Efforts are being made not only to improve safety but also to encourage captive breeding rather than taking from the wild. With nearly 30% of the remaining Asian elephants in captivity, attention needs to be paid to improved care and, where appropriate, reintroduction of individuals into the wild.

Genetic threat

There has been concern about the genetic effects of reduced numbers of male big tuskers. The danger arises when they are eliminated, and poachers find it worthwhile to kill immature males for their small tusks. When tuskers are killed, the number of males in a population decreases, resulting in skewed sex ratios. This may lead to inbreeding and eventually to high juvenile mortality and overall low breeding success. Removing large tuskers also reduces the probability that these longer-ranging loners will mate and exchange genes with females of different sub-populations.

Disease
In the early 1990s, an outbreak of haemorrhagic septicaemia, a cattle disease rare among elephants, was responsible for the deaths of several animals in Sri Lanka's Uda Walawe National Park in May 1994. In small herds of elephants, epidemics such as this could wipe out entire groups.

Western Ghats Mountain Range Into a Single Biogeographic Unit

The South Western Ghats Moist Deciduous Forests [IM0150] lie adjacent to the montane rain forest ecoregion in the southern extent of the Western Ghats Mountain Range. This ecoregion creates a landscape that extends from the lowlands to the highest peaks of one of the bioregion's richest and most diverse ecosystems. The ecoregion is wider in the drier, leeward side of the mountain range, where it drops down to the dry Deccan Plateau to encompass some prime habitat where some of the most important populations of tiger (Panthera tigris), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), and gaur (Bos gaurus) live. The ecoregion represents a transition area between the South Western Ghats Montane Rain Forests [IM0151] and the South Deccan Plateau Dry Deciduous Forests [IM0209], and includes species from both. Therefore, species richness is high. But more importantly, the ecoregion provides continuity of ecological processes between the lowland and montane ecosystems. The moister forests of this ecoregion support many of the larger vertebrates also found in the dry forest ecoregion but at higher densities.

SCIENTIFIC CODE

(IM0150)

ECOREGION CATEGORY

Indo-Malayan

SIZE

9,200 square miles

STATUS

Critical/Endangered

HABITATS

Description 

Location and General Description

The ecoregion represents the band of moist deciduous forests that surround the montane evergreen rain forests in the southern part of the Western Ghats Mountains. It extends across the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Being part of the Deccan Plateau, the ecoregion has Gondwanaland origins. But the moist deciduous nature of the vegetation is a manifestation of the geological uplift that occurred during the upper Tertiary period and created the Western Ghats Mountain Range, which then began to intercept the southwestern monsoon and create a complex rainshadow. The swath of moist deciduous forests is very narrow on the steeper, windward side of the mountain range, where the southwest monsoon rains promote a wet evergreen forest. But on the shallower leeward side, the drier conditions caused by the rainshadow result in a broader, uneven swath of moist deciduous forests that extends further, into the Deccan Plateau. Rainfall on the leeward side is influenced by the complex landform, with some areas receiving less than a fifth of the 3,000 mm or more of annual precipitation that is deposited higher in the mountains.

Champion and Seth (1968) classify these forests as a Southern Indian Moist Deciduous Forest. The vegetation is characterized by Adina cordifolia, Albizzia odoratissima, Albizzia procera, Alstonia scholaris, Bombax ceiba, Toona ciliata, Dalbergia latifolia, Grewia tiliaefolia, Holoptelea integrifolia, Hymenodictyon excelsum, Lagerstroemia lanceolata, Lagerstroemia speciosa, Lannea coromandelica, Miliusa velutina, Pterocarpus marsupium, Schleichera oleosa, Spondias pinnata, Radermachera xylocarpa, Tectona grandis, Terminalia bellerica, Terminalia paniculata, Terminalia tomentosa, Vitex altissima, Xylia xylocarpa, and Machilus macrantha (Champion and Seth 1968).

Biodiversity Features

Although it does not serve as home to as many endemic species as the montane rain forests, the moist deciduous forest ecoregion is actually richer in species, harboring more mammal and bird species. Among the eighty-nine mammal species known from here, six are near-endemic species (table 1). But none of the species are strict endemics, entirely limited to this ecoregion. Three mammal species, Nilgiri langur (Semnopithecus johnii), Malabar large-spotted civet (Viverra civettina), and Jerdon's civet (Paradoxurus jerdoni), also extend into the montane rain forests and the semi-deciduous coastal forests on either side, whereas the shrew Suncus dayi is also found in the coastal forests. Layard's striped squirrel (Funambulus layardi) is also found in the adjacent montane rain forest ecoregion.

Table 1 Endemic and Near-Endemic Mammal Species.

Family Species 

Soricidae Suncus dayi 

Pteropodidae Latidens salimalii 

Cercopithecidae Semnopithecus johnii 

Viverridae Viverra civettina 

Sciuridae Paradoxurus jerdoni 

Sciuridae Funambulus layardi

An asterisk signifies that the species' range is limited to this ecoregion.

Among the larger threatened mammal species in this ecoregion are the tiger, Asian elephant, gaur, Nilgiri langur, wild dog (Cuon alpinus), and sloth bear (IUCN 2000). Several of these large species need large spaces. Two of India's most important elephant populations-the Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats population, estimated at more than 6,300 animals, and the Anaimalais-Nelliampathis population, estimated at 1,200 to 2,000 animals (Sukumar 1989)-venture into this ecoregion. The ecoregion is also part of a high-priority (Level I) TCU (Wikramanayake et al. 1999) that also includes the montane rain forests. Some of the smaller threatened species include Jerdon's palm civet (Paradoxurus jerdoni), slender loris (Loris tardigradus), grizzled giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura), and Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) (IUCN 2000).

The 322 bird species known from this ecoregion include nine near-endemic species (table 2).

Table 2. Endemic and Near-Endemic Bird Species.

  Family Common Name Species 

Columbidae Nilgiri wood-pigeon Columba elphinstonii 

Bucconidae Malabar grey hornbill Ocyceros griseus 

Pycnonotidae Grey-headed bulbul Pycnonotus priocephalus 

Timaliidae Rufous babbler Turdoides subrufus 

Corvidae White-bellied treepie Dendrocitta leucogastra 

Muscicapidae Black-and-rufous flycatcher Ficedula nigrorufa 

Muscicapidae Nilgiri flycatcher Eumyias albicaudata 

Pycnonotidae Yellow-throated bulbul Pycnonotus xantholaemus 

Psittacidae Malabar parakeet Psittacula columboides

An asterisk signifies that the species' range is limited to this ecoregion.

These species are shared with the South Western Ghats Montane Rain Forests [IM0151], but five species that are endemic to the montane ecoregion are absent from this lower, moist deciduous forest ecoregion.

The globally threatened lesser florican (Eupodotis indica) can be found in patches of grassland habitats in this ecoregion. BirdLife International has included these moist deciduous forests within an EBA, Western Ghats (123) (Stattersfield et al. 1998).

Current Status

Nearly three-fourths of the natural vegetation in the ecoregion has been cleared or converted, and the remaining forests are severely fragmented. However, there are fourteen protected areas that cover almost 5,000 km2 (21 percent), of the ecoregion's intact habitat (table 3).

Protected Area Area (km2) IUCN Category 

Nagarahole 620 II 

Bandipur 1,110 II 

Wynad 430 IV 

Mudumalai 400 IV 

Bilgiri Ranga Swamy Temple [IM0209] 370 PRO 

Megamalai [IM0151] 310 PRO 

Periyar [IM0151] 470 IV 

Anamalai [IM0151] 620 IV 

Eravikulam [IM0151] 90 II 

Chinnar 50 IV 

Parambikulam (extension) 60 PRO 

Peppara [IM0151] 40 IV 

Neyyar 150 IV 

Kalakad 240 IV 

Total 4,960

Ecoregion numbers of protected areas that overlap with additional ecoregions are listed in brackets.

One protected area, Bandipur, exceeds 1,000 km2 and is contiguous with Nagarhole, Mudumalai, and Wyanad. Together this protected area complex includes the largest protected elephant population, estimated at more than 2,500 elephants in India. Two other protected areas that exceed 1,000 km2, Periyar and Anamalai, straddle this and the adjacent South Western Ghats Montane Rain Forests [IM0151]. But eleven of the other reserves are small, less than 500 km2, and four are less than 100 km2. Therefore, many of the protected areas cannot support viable populations of the focal large mammals in this ecoregion.

Types and Severity of Threats

The most significant threat to the remaining habitat and existing reserves is from livestock grazing and associated impacts such as trampling, excessive fodder collection, and burning to create grasslands for livestock (IUCN 1991). These threats are especially severe in Karnataka State. Dam construction for hydroelectricity and irrigation has also caused habitat fragmentation, concentrating elephant populations in forest fragments and exacerbating human-elephant conflicts. Habitat is also being fragmented by forest clearing for plantations. Rodgers and Panwar (1988) present a comprehensive review of the protected area gaps and conservation needs in this ecoregion.

Justification of Ecoregion Delineation

In earlier analyses, MacKinnon (1997), and Rodgers and Panwar (1988) placed the Western Ghats Mountain Range into a single biogeographic unit. But Rodgers and Panwar (1988) acknowledged that the Western Ghats Range is too large to represent a single unit for conservation planning and implicitly divided the mountain range into northern and southern areas. They used the Wyanad as a transition zone from the southern Cullenia-dominated forests and the northern drier dipterocarp forests in this division. We also used this transition to make a more explicit division of the northern and southern ecoregions in the Western Ghats. But in keeping with our definition of ecoregions, we also separated the distinct belt of moist deciduous forests that surround the montane rain forests and placed them in different ecoregions. Thus the moist deciduous forests to the south of the Wyanad area were placed in the South Western Ghats Moist Deciduous Forests [IM0150]. This ecoregion falls within Udvardy's Malabar rain forest biogeographic province.

We used the 1,000-m contour from a DEM and MacKinnon's (1997) map of original vegetation to define the boundary between the montane rain forests and moist deciduous forests. The outer boundaries, between the dry forests in the Deccan Plateau to the east and the distinctly different lowland moist deciduous forests along the Malabar coast to the west, were defined using MacKinnon's (1997) reconstruction of the distribution of the original vegetation types.