INDIA'S WESTERN GHATS A VANISHING HERITAGE
INDIA'S WESTERN GHATS A VANISHING HERITAGE
The Western Ghats cover less than 5% of India's land area, but support more than 30% of the country's plant, bird, and mammal species. Thousands of plant and animal species in the Western Ghats exist nowhere else in the world. It is their only home and their last bastion for survival. In recognition of this fragile land with extraordinary richness, the Western Ghats have been named one of the world's top 34 hotspots of biological diversity.
BIO DIVERSITY
The Western Ghats cover less than 5% of India's land area, but support more than 30% of the country's plant, bird, and mammal species. Thousands of plant and animal species in the Western Ghats exist nowhere else in the world. It is their only home and their last bastion for survival. In recognition of this fragile land with extraordinary richness, the Western Ghats have been named one of the world's top 34 hotspots of biological diversity.
A HUMAN INTREST PRESPECTIVE
Matching the extraordinary diversity of plant and animal life is the cultural heritage of the Western Ghats. People from a host of ethnic and religious backgrounds inhabit this landscape, and some of the indigenous groups, like the Todas are among the most ancient peoples of South Asia. The fantastic variety of rituals, customs, and languages gives the Western Ghats immense cultural significance.
Many of these plant species found in the Western Ghats are critical to human populations. For generations the people of the Western Ghats have used local wild plants to develop food crops. These include grains such as rice, barley, and finger millet; fruits like mango, garcinia, banana, and jackfruit; and a variety of spices such as black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. The wild relatives of these products still remain and can now provide the genes scientists need to improve and diversify modern varieties. In addition to this, as the Western Ghats form a barrier between the Arabian Sea and the Indian subcontinent, they play a crucial role in determining rainfall patterns across peninsular India. The monsoon rains intercepted by these mountains feed the major rivers of peninsular India, which irrigate the parched lands in the eastern shadow of the Ghats. This water is rich in nutrient sediments which is crucial to sustain seaside ecosystems along both coasts of India.
Thus, the "monsoon mountains" are truly the backbone of the region, not only for its wild plants and animals, but for roughly 300 million people who live not only within the Western Ghats themselves, but also on the plains below. Of all the world^Ys great mountain ranges, only the Himalayas sustain or impact a larger human population.
With an ever-expanding number of people depending on the mountains^Y resources, the immense biological and cultural diversity of the Western Ghats are under considerable stress. Growing demand for natural resources coupled with inadequate government protection is leading to a tragic loss of these important mountains. Natural habitats are rapidly being both degraded and fragmented into relatively small, isolated patches, leaving little space for wild plants and animals to exist. Thus, hundreds of species are now vulnerable to imminent extinction. The existence of the Western Ghats for so many years only proves that it is possible for wildlife to flourish alongside people. The answer lies in balance and respect - one will ensure the other.
SAVE THIS VANISHING HERITAGE
Our Western Ghats provide vital habitat for thousands of animals, birds and plants found nowhere else on Earth. In particular, these forests have proven to be rich storehouses of biodiversity as well as providing food, income and new medicines for the human world.
But these rich forests are quickly disappearing from the face of the Earth, at the hands of their human counterparts. Every second of every day, a slice the size of a football field is mowed down. That's 86,400 football fields per day, or over 31 million football fields a year. And as the forests disappear, so do the animals, birds and plants they house which dramatically changes the complexion and climate of the Earth. MORE FOREST NEEDED Considering the land that the state commands 1,91,791 sq km state should have had 23%of the land under forest cover of all three categories, very dends, moderately dense and open forests as per the world forest cover standards, but the present only 19% of the land mass covered with forest area and there was an immediate need for not protecting the existing forest cover. Karnataka has only 1.11% of the total forest cover of the country. Under Recordered forest areas (RFA), the reserved forest are to the extent of 29,550 sq km, protect forest, 3,585 sq km and unclassified forest 43,084 sq km.
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