India’s Western Ghats: Connecting and Restoring Forests for Indian Wildlife
A tiger (Panthera tigris) roams near the edge of a forest in India’s Western Ghats. Photo by Ramki Sreenivasan.
Saving a World Heritage Site
India’s Western Ghats are incredibly important for biodiversity. Older than the Himalaya mountains, this UNESCO World Heritage Site has more biological diversity than almost anywhere else on the planet.
This ancient mountain range is immense, running inland along much of the length of India’s West Coast. Its innumerable valleys and forests stretch for about 1,600 kilometers (just under a 1,000 miles). Sky islands with waves of golden grasslands dot the mountain range.
In addition, the montane forests in the Western Ghats influence India’s monsoon weather pattern and are home to at least 325 globally threatened species. This is the kind of biodiversity hotspot where scientists regularly find new species, like the nine new frog species discovered in 2014.
Scarred Mountains
Decades of forest clearing for crops like tea, rubber and coffee, and intense population growth have taken their toll on the Ghats. Strip mining for iron ore has scarred the mountains and polluted rivers. As a result, forests are now badly fragmented, isolating populations of wildlife from one another. Endangered tigers, Asian elephants, and many more species are imperiled in India. Furthermore, as India’s human population continues to boom, time is truly of the essence.
The Western Ghats have been logged for coffee, tea, rubber, and palm oil plantations. As a result, forest fragments are isolating wildlife populations from each other. Photo by Kiran Yadav.
New Beginnings in Kudremukh and Bhadra
SavingSpecies’ new project is a ‘down payment’ for the future of the Western Ghats of India. Working with our partners, Bangalalore-based Centre for Wildlife Studies and the Wildlife Conservation Society-India, we are identifying core areas of forests to purchase and add to existing protected areas.
Our first effort step was to purchase land adjacent to two protected areas, Kudremukh National Park and Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary. This once ecologically vibrant area is now an uneasy patchwork of forest islands amidst coffee, rubber, and palm oil plantations. Also scattered in this area are multiple settlements, a rusting abandoned mining operation, and miles of deteriorating infrastructure. Furthermore, invasive species are overtaking the forests and grasslands, slowly crowding out native species.
Encroachment of road and electricity, is the next serious threat to the last of nature’s seclusion. This development significantly disrupts connectivity and movement of large dispersing mammals like tigers, elephants, and gaur. It also invites further destruction of the landscape that all wildlife depends on for survival.
CPR for the Western Ghats
In short, the Western Ghats need CPR—we must Connect Protect and Restore these forests for threatened and endemic biodiversity here, or risk losing precious species forever.
Focusing on even small parcels in the Ghats will add to existing forest protected areas and improve the ability for wildlife to disperse and find food, and even other mates. More importantly, purchasing these properties and placing them into protected status, impedes further infrastructure encroachment, and development.
Lion-tailed Macaques (Macaca silenus) are endangered primates that enjoy the forest canopy. Photo by Kalyan Varma.
Forest by forest, hectare by hectare, SavingSpecies and our partners will help fortify and increase the amount of forest protected in this biodiversity hotspot. Working together with the Centre for Wildlife Studies and the Wildlife Conservation Society-India to re-integrate isolated forest parcels throughout the Ghats will be an enormous gain for conservation.
A Bevy of Biodiversity
Overall, the Western Ghats of India is one of the hottest of the biodiversity hotspots. So many species can be saved by achieving our goal of reconnecting their habitat. There are literally hundreds of endemic species here that can be found nowhere else on the planet.
Summer is a tough time for the elephants and many hundreds congregate at the Kabini backwaters every year as the receding water gives way to fresh grass for them. This however runs out very fast and they sometimes have to work really hard to get to the last of the grasses.
The diversity of birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles is spectacular. The short list below shows is reason enough to fight for India’s Western Ghats. One look at the full list makes it truly indisputable.
500 Birds including 22 endemics. Species include: Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus, CR), Nilgiri Blue Robin (Myiomela major, EN), Blackchinned (Nilgiri) Laughing thrush (Strophocincla cachinnans, EN)
120 Mammals including 18 endemics. Species include: Malabar Civet (Viverra civettina, CR), Tiger (Panthera tigris, EN), Liontailed Macaque (Macaca silenus (EN), Leopard (Panthera pardus), Elephant (Elephas maximus), Asiatic Wild Dog (Cuon alpinus), Sambar (Cervus unicolor), Chital (Cervus axis), Muntjak (Muntaicus muntjak), Gaur (Bos gaurus).
219 Amphibians including 170 endemics. Species include: Raorchestes ponmudi (CR), Pseudophilautus amboli (CR), Ramanella mormorata (EN), Gundia Indian frog (Indirana gundia), Dattatreya Night Frog (Nyctibatrachus dattatreyensis)
225 Reptiles including 139 endemics. Species include: Cochin Forest Cane Turtle (Vijayachelys silvatica, EN), Perrotet’s Vine Sanke (Ahaetulla perroteti), Indian Kangaroo lizard (Octocryptis beddomii).
A Long-Term Commitment
Saving the Western Ghats and its biodiversity from further deforestation, fragmentation and other dangers will take a long-term commitment and many years. SavingSpecies is ready to meet this challenge. We hope you will support our efforts.
