The Area
WWF-India is working in two critical areas within the Western Ghats ecoregion:
Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats Landscape:
The Nilgiris Eastern Ghats Landscape (NEG) is the foremost elephant country of the subcontinent. It has the single largest contiguous population of Asiatic elephants in its range and holds the key to the long term survival of the species. Over 6,000 elephants live in the Nilgiri and Eastern Ghats Landscape which spreads overs an area of about 12,000 sq kms. Other large mammals found in the area are gaur, sambar and tiger. The terrain of the landscape is mostly undulating with low hills. The area extends from the south of the Brahmagiri hills in Karnataka through the Wyanad plateau into the northern Nilgiri hill slopes and the Mysore plateau which links up to the Sigur plateau and the Moyar river valley. The Moyar valley rises up the slopes of the Eastern Ghats leading into the Thalamalai plateau going up to the east of the Biligirirangan range into Bargur, Sathyamangalam, and Madeshwaramalai up to the Cauvery River.
Nilgiris
Southern Western Ghats Landscape:
The Southern Western Ghats (SWG) cover an area of 7000 sq kms in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and harbour a very rich floral and faunal biodiversity. It forms one of the largest contiguous blocks of ‘good’ forest cover in the South-Western Ghats. This region harbours high levels of endemism and over 15% is under the Protected Area network. Some of the important and unique habitat types found here include wet evergreen forests and Sholas in the higher elevations. The Southern-Western Ghats is also a priority terrestrial and freshwater ecoregion of the WWF global programme with the entire Western Ghats complex identified as a Global Ecoregion 200.
Mkurthi Amblavaram view