Southern Western Ghats Landscape

The Southern Western Ghats Landscape (SWGL) is situated south of the Palakkad Gap in the Western Ghats mountain ranges of peninsular India. This landscape covers an area of 7,000 sq. km of undulating terrain and has the highest mountain peak (Anaimudi: 2800 m above MSL) south of the Himalayas. This landscape spreads across 14 protected areas (PAs) and 11 Forest Divisions (FD) and many privately owned rubber and tea plantation estates. It is a global 200 ecoregion and priority for WWF- India. The landscape encompasses Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park and Kodaikanal FD in Tamil Nadu while in Kerala, it spans through Eravikulam NP, Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, Chinnar WLS, Chimmony WLS and Peechi-Vazhani WLS. The landscape is home to the largest population of Nilgiri Tahr, the endangered mountain goat, endemic to the Western Ghats and comprises a variety of ecosystems – ranging from wet evergreen to dry deciduous to scrub jungles. The largest contiguous patch of montane grasslands, interspersed with montane rainforests that is unique to the Western Ghats, is found only in this landscape. The other endangered mammals found in this landscape are: lion-tailed macaques, clawless otters, Nilgiri langurs, etc. The other charismatic species like the elephants, tigers, gaur are also aplenty in this landscape.

The conservation plan for the landscape is currently being developed in collaboration with the Forest Departments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and other stakeholders. A planning workshop comprising all the stakeholders was organized in month of May, 2006 to prioritize the key conservation issues of the landscape which are 1)Human wildlife conflict; 2) Timber smuggling and poaching of wildlife (commercial); 3) Unregulated tourism; 4) Improperly planned infrastructure development; 5) Forest encroachments (illegal); 6) Forest Conversion (legal); 7) Unsustainable extraction/use of forests products for subsistence and for commercial use; 8) Invasive alien species & 9) Forest fires.

GIS technologies are being used for time series analysis by comparing the data for the year 1990 and 2006.

A programme office is actively functional in Coimbatore for strengthening field activities and effective coordination of multiple programmes initiated in the landscape.