The Western Ghats

Elephants migrated along these fabled forests long before man made his appearance on Earth. Birds of every description flitted between lianas, creepers, ferns and tall trees in whose canopy, it is believed, tree squirrels could once have travelled over 1,000 km. without ever stepping down to the ground. The Western Ghats were once rich and productive. Dense vegetation then formed an evergreen canopy to protect the fragile soils of this most diverse and magical belt. The long wall of tree-clothed slopes acted as a screen to capture the rain heavy south-west monsoon winds that blew in from the sea to water this 160,000 sq. km. Eden.

Along the west coast of India -- beginning from the Surat Dangs at the western extremity of the Satpuras in south Gujarat, for over 1,500 km. to the southern tip of India in Kerala -- stretch the Western Ghats, a mountain range second only to the Himalaya in magnificence. The Ghats form the catchment area for the complex peninsular Indian river system that drains almost 40 per cent of India, the second largest tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forest belt of the sub-continent. An area of critical conservation importance today, much of its natural wealth has vanished and little attempt has been made to stem the rot, despite the fact that there is a high degree of biological endemism; species desperately in need of preservation.

Contrary to popular belief, however, the principal sufferers of forest loss have not been the animals. Tribals and rural poor have had to pay the most severe price in terms of their falling quality of life. Watercourses have become polluted. The water table has fallen. Firewood, once abundant, is now impossibly scarce and mere living now involves conflict with forest staff. Inequities and social injustices merely exacerbate the situation even as more and more forest consuming projects such as the dams at Pooyamkutty and mining operations near Goa are mooted each day.

A sign of hope is the fact that people have begun to see through Politicians, vested business interests and the bureaucracy and have started to take their own initiatives to assert their rights. The Save the Western Ghats March, which took place between November 3, 1987 and February 3, 1988, is brought back to memory. A unique people's conservation movement involving thousands of social activists, villagers, scientists and environmentalists, the march succeeded in reaching the message of environmental and human rights to villages, towns and hamlets along a 1,000 km. stretch of the Ghats. Thanks to initiatives such as these the intimate connection between environmental degradation and human rights is beginning to be recognised by an increasing number of Indians.

Biology of the Western Ghats

Tragically for mankind, most of the forest cover of the Western Ghats has disappeared. The few remaining stretches of natural forests and protected areas, however, still house a biological wealth matched only by the North-east. The famous forests of Silent Valley which were saved from the clutches of an ill-advised hydroelectric project form a part of this vital forested swatch. A wide climatic (rainfall and temperature) and geographical (altitude and associated mountain spurs) gradient exists in this zone. This is manifested in a tremendous diversity of vegetal communities and animal associations. From the coastal plains along the western flanks, the zone rises up to a maximum altitude of 2,735 metres in the south, while falling gradually (sharply in a few places) along the eastern side, towards the dry Deccan Peninsula.

These climatic and geographical gradients have resulted in major habitat variations in this Zone. There are tropical evergreen forests in the central and southern regions; semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, wherever left untouched, clothe the mountains almost all along their length; dry deciduous forests of teak and associated species clothe the coastal plains in the northern and central regions as also along the eastern rain-shadow slopes. There are extensive rolling grass-hills in the south-central portions of the Ghats. Of the total area of 160,000 sq. km., just less than one-third is currently considered to be forested and only about nine per cent (15,000 sq. km.) is estimated to be tropical evergreen forest. The rest are moist and dry deciduous forests, dominated by teak.

The Western Ghats Zone covers barely five per cent of India's area, but its biological richness can be best understood when one realises that 27 per cent of all the species of higher plants recorded in the Indian region are found here (about 4,000 of 15,000 species). Further, almost 1,800 species are endemic to the region. The Nilgiri-Travancore-Anamalai-Palni-Cardamom hill areas in the southern parts of the zone exhibit the highest degree of endemism. Further, several interesting plant associations are observed in the evergreen forests of the Zone. There are montane 'shola' forests, riverine or swamp forests and nearly half a dozen other evergreen-species associations, mostly observed in the southern half of the Zone, where numerous ancillary mountain ranges converge to produce a region of exceptional diversity. Because of the heavy rainfall and healthy soil conditions that much of the Zone's southern half enjoys, cash crops like coffee, cocoa, cardamom, rubber, tea and pepper are extensively grown, setting in their wake additional man-induced habitats.

The Western Ghats Zone is also characterised by a series of forest gaps or breaks, that are actually valleys that break the continuity of the mountain ranges and accordingly of the biological components as well. Some of the major ones are the Palghat Gap, the Moyar Gorge or Gap and the Shencottah Gap. These series of gaps have resulted in preventing the spread of certain species and have hence, facilitated local speciation and endemism. The associated mountain ranges such as the Anamalais, the Nilgiris and the Agastyamalais are all separated by clear-cut barriers and besides the interesting floral speciation, a distinct faunal endemism and/or local speciation, is also found. Areas such as this are in urgent need of study and documentation.

Though this zone has healthy populations of much of the animal species characteristic of peninsular India (tiger, elephant, gaur, dhole, sloth bear, panther and several species of deer), it also exhibits a fairly good degree of endemism among primates, ungulates, carnivores, rodents, squirrels and several birds. Amongst amphibia, most of the species and nearly half the genera are endemic, while a good degree of endemism is visible also amongst reptiles, fish and insects, most faunal endemism and restriction being only in the central and and southern parts of the zone. Several of the zone's faunal components are of great interest (and importance) in that they have helped provide justification for what is called The Hora Hypothesis. This explains the spread of several species from the Himalaya and North-east along a once continuous central Indian mountain range into the Western Ghats, giving rise to several interesting biological linkages between the Western Ghats, the Himalaya and North-East! More natural history field research would reveal vital clues to the management of such areas.

Conservation status

Presently, of all the Bio-geographic Zones, The Western Ghats with 44 Sanctuaries and National Parks, covering some 15,935 sq. km. has the highest percentage of protected areas. However, the two sub-divisions of this Zone (viz., the coastal plains and the main Western Ghats) do not enjoy the same extent of protection. The coastal plains, from north to south, cover 60,000 sq. km. (37.5 per cent) of the zone. This is one of the most highly developed and populated areas of the country. It is also the area with the least number of protected areas. Only four sites (three Sanctuaries and one National Park) totalling a mere 240 sq. km. (less than 0.5 per cent) exist in this section of the Western Ghats. Taking the tremendous pressures on this region into consideration, even by the most conservative estimate the total protected area percentage in this region can barely be extended beyond one per cent. Bombay's Sanjay
Gandhi National Park is the only National Park in this sub-division!

In marked contrast to the coastal plains region, the 100,000 sq. km. main Western Ghats region has the largest extent of protected areas in India. 41 sites (six national parks and 35 sanctuaries) cover 15,695 sq. km. or 15.8 per cent of the total area. On paper this might seem to be a considerable area, but taking the exceptional biodiversity of this Zone into consideration, not only is this inadequate, but it is not uniformly distributed and some of the vital eco-zones, such as the Coorg, Palnis and the Upper Nilgiris have either been totally overlooked or are barely represented through tiny reserves.

To successfully conserve the rich biological wealth reveal vital clues to the management of such areas. of evergreen tropical forest regions, it is imperative that there be large-sized, unbroken protected areas that have a minimum disturbance. The forests in the northern half of the Western Ghats are highly fragmented, as a result of which considering areas for protection is not possible. Hence the emphasis here is on smaller units, with a well spread network to incorporate as much of the diversity as possible. Less than 25 per cent of the protected areas network of the Western Ghats lies in the northern half -- Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa. Currently the largest, contiguous stretch of wilderness exists in the Nagarahole-Bandipur--Mudumalai belt of Karnataka and TamilNadu, and the adjoining Wynaad region of North Kerala. This forms a more or less unbroken protected area conservation unit of over 2,000 sq. km. The significance can be gauged from the fact that the forests hold an estimated 1,500 elephants -- India's largest protected population of pachyderms. Additionally, this area is home to several other threatened species. The other well-protected portion of the Western Ghats extends over 1,500 sq. km. in the Anamalai Hills region of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The highest point in mainland India, south of the Himalaya, is to be found here as can some of the finest examples of lowland Dipterocarp forests, which rise up into the sholas. The presence of extensive moist deciduous forests adds up to the fact that this is undoubtedly peninsular India's richest bio-zone. Unfortunately, extensive plantations and related human disturbances threaten much of this region, which is fast losing most of its viable evergreen forest units. The Periyar-Cardamom Hills belt in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is a major elephant conservation area. The grizzled squirrel too is found here, perhaps nowhere else in India. The total protected area unit in this region extends some 1,227 sq. km., much of it under great pressure from all sides.

Located more or less at the southernmost end of the Western Ghats Zone are the Agastyamalai Hills in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Separated from the northern Kerala forests by the Shencottah Gap, the Agastyamalais have an interesting biological commonness with the forests of Sri Lanka. There is great endemism observed here in the floral and lesser faunal (amphibians, insects etc.) communities. Mundanthurai and Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuaries form the southernmost range of the tiger in the sub-continent. The entire protected area unit of this belt works out to just over 1,000 sq. km.

It is believed that under the existing conservation programmes in this Zone, much of the endemic floral community appears relatively secure. However, the habitat of some of the faunal elements of principal concern, though well-protected in pockets, is under threat from plantation encroachments. Rodgers and Panwar recommend a substantial increase the size of the main conservation units in this zone, particularly in the main Western Ghats region.

Almost two dozen more protected areas have been recommended, to offer adequate protection to species in additional areas. However, inspite of this increase in the number of protected areas, the actual network will be reduced by nearly 500 sq. km. This is because much of the over 5,000 sq. km. Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka, being a much disturbed and interfered area, is proposed to be degazetted, for it is realised that it is far more advantageous to have healthy, undisturbed reasonably good-sized areas than a huge, highly disturbed region where much of the conservation and management programmes cannot even be implemented. Implementation, in fact, is a key factor in the success of all wildlife plans which have invariably sounded good on paper, yet failed in practice.