NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN Western Ghats Ecoregion R. J. Ranjit Daniels Coordinator Hon. Secretary Chennai Snake Park Trust Raj Bhavan PO Chennai 600 022 & Director Care Earth No 5, Shrinivas 21st Street Thillaiganganagar Chennai 600 061 Executing Agency: Government of India – Ministry of Environment and Forests Funding Agency: United Nations Development Programme/Global Environment Facility Technical Implementing Agency: Technical and Policy Core Group coordinated by Kalpavriksh Administrative Agency: Biotech Consortium India Limited Acknowledgements This document has been prepared as part of the national programme titled 'National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan' (NBSAP) – India, funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF). The support and cooperation extended by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India (NBSAP-Executing agency), the Technical and Policy Core Group (NBSAP- Technical implementing agency Coordinated by Kalpavriksh) and the Biotech Consortium India Ltd (NBSAP-Administrative agency) are most gratefully acknowledged herein. The support and encouragement provided by Shri B Vijayaraghavan IAS (Retd) – Chairman of the Chennai Snake Park Trust is also gratefully acknowledged. Throughout the process of preparation of the document a number of institutions/people helped in various ways. The complete list of institutions/persons who interacted/participated in the discussion meetings and contributed to the document is provided elsewhere. The following colleagues most willingly extended their support in organising discussion meetings and in channelising information and feedback that went into preparation of the document. Dr Jayshree Vencatesan *– Joint Director, Care Earth, Chennai. Shri Utkarsh Ghate *– RANWA, Pune. Dr P T Cherian* - Additional Director and Officer-in-Charge, ZSI, Chennai. Dr P S Easa* – Scientist-in-Charge, Division of Wildlife Biology, KFRI, Peechi. Shri K A Subramanian* – CES/IISc, Bangalore. Dr PGrard* - Head, Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry Dr S Paulraj*, IFS - DFO Nilgiris MrYogesh Gokhale* - CES/ IISC, Bangalore Shri K K Somasundaram, IFS – PCCF, Tamilnadu Forest Department. Shri R Annamalai, IFS – Dean, Southern Rangers College, Coimbatore. Shri V Ramakantha, IFS – Principal, State Forest Service College, Coimbatore. Prof Winfred D Thomas – Department of Botany, American College, Madurai. Shri R V Sudhakar - Hon.Secretary, Madras Naturalists Society, Chennai Dr V Kalaiarasan - Director, Chennai Snake Park. Shri P Asaithambi – Chennai. Dr Ajith Kumar - Principal Scientist, SACON, Coimbatore. Shri G Bala - Palni Hills Conservation Council, Kodaikanal. Dr Ravi Chellam - Scientist SD, WII, Dehradun. Shri P K Surendranathan Asari IFS – PCCF (Development & Projects) Kerala Forest Department Dr J K Sharma – Director, KFRI, Peechi. 2 Dr P Padmanabhan - Scientist, Division of Wildlife Biology, KFRI, Peechi Shri S Faizi – Consultant Ecologist, Thiruvananthapuram. Dr P K Warrier – Managing Trustee and Chief Physician, Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakal. Dr B Sasikumar – Scientist, Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut. Shri A Achyuthan – Calicut, Kerala. Prof Madhav Gadgil – CES, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Shri Anirban Ganguly - CES/IISc, Bangalore. Shri Harish Bhat – CES/IISc, Bangalore. Ms Geetha Gadagkar- CES/IISc, Bangalore. Shri V V Sivan – CES/IISc, Bangalore. Dr K Prabhakar Achar – Department of Zoology, Shri Bhuvanendra College, Karkala. Shri Anand D Padhye – Department of Zoology, Abasaheb Garware College, Pune. Dr Hemant V Ghate – Department of Zoology, Modern College, Pune. Prof Sanjeev B Nalavade – Ferguson College, Pune. RANWA - Pune. Kerala Biodiversity Committee, Kerala Shri D G Hegde - Chairman, Anamalais Biodiversity Conservation Association, Valparai. Shri Simon Vasnaik - Anamalais Biodiversity Conservation Association, Valparai. Dr B R Ramesh - Director of Research, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry Dr Ameen Ahmed - Wildlife Aware Nature Club, Tumkur. Shri S V Bhaskara Sethupathy - Hon Director, Institute of Environmental Education, Madurai. Shri A C Soundar Rajan - Vice President, Nilgiri Wldlife and Environment Association, Ootacomund. Dr (Ms) K Rema Devi - Scientist, Zoological Survey of India, Chennai. Ms Aarthi Sridhar - Uttara Kannada Coordination Committee, SESA, Sirsi. Shri Ankur Patwardhan - Fore Eyes Foundation, Pune. Shri N Dahanukar - A. G College/ Ranwa, Pune. Shri Y Ghodke - A. G College/ Ranwa, Pune. Shri V Gour Broome - Rural Communes, Pune. Shri R Joshi - MPCC, Pune. Shri S Kahrat - AG College, Pune. Shri M Mahabaleshwarkar - A G College/ Ranwa, Pune. Shri T Pachpor - A G College/Ranwa, Pune. Shri Rupesh Raut - A G College/ Ranwa, Pune. Dr (Ms) M Soubadra Devy - ATREE, Bangalore. Dr T Ganesh - ATREE, Bangalore. Dr R Ganesan - ATREE, Bangalore. * Working Group Members 3 Preface Conservative estimates place the number of species of microorganisms, plants and animals in the Western Ghats in the range of 10,000-15,000. Roughly 40% of these could be endemic. Such a magnitude of biodiversity, and the array of threats faced by the various components of biodiversity have together ranked the Western Ghats amongst the 25 biodiversity hot-spots in the world. The Western Ghats have had a nearly 50 million year history. The past 12,000-15,000 years have witnessed the gradual entry of human beings into this ecoregion leading to a lot of changes in the magnitude and distribution of biodiversity. Whatever patterns of biodiversity distribution that are apparent today in the Western Ghats have had one or another form of human influences. This needs to be borne in mind while conservation strategies are being outlined. Although the Western Ghats represent the tropical rainforest biome, there is a considerable amount of seasonal variation from the north to south. Generally, there are 5-8 dry months in the northern half of the Western Ghats as against the nearly 10 months of rainfall in the south. Further, the longer dry season in the north, especially in northern Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra (the Sahyadri Ghats), has rendered the rainforests in this region more fragile than that in the south. Recent human impacts have been reflected rather heavily in the northern forests than in the southern forests. Human interferences throughout the Western Ghats have modified the once continuous tropical rainforests into a heterogeneous mosaic of evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous formations. The possibility that many of the rainforest species of plants and animals that are restricted in range to the southern Western Ghats were once present in the north as well is very strong. Despite all changes that the ecoregion has undergone, the Western Ghats are still a ‘nature monument’ that has sustained an exceptionally high magnitude of biodiversity and provided immense ecosystem services providing clean air and water. The Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan that has been outlined for the ecoregion has therefore kept the biodiversity wealth and the long years of ecosystem services that have been provided by the hills and forests of the Western Ghats in main focus. The Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan has been structured such that in the first section it reflects both the magnitude and distribution of biodiversity as apparent today 4 highlighting the major reasons for the loss of biodiversity and possible means to mitigate the losses. The second section outlines the process adopted, listing the various recommendations made by the 200 or so participants (without any prejudice), the names and addresses of the contributors and appendices of species lists. Issues that emerged repeatedly throughout the process of preparation of the draft - through brainstorming and peer review, have been consolidated into the Strategy and Action Plan. It is hoped that the Strategy and Action Plan thus prepared is an honest representation of both scientific and public perceptions of the problems and prospects of biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats ecoregion that can be meaningfully integrated with the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for India. 5 1.0 Executive Summary 1.1 Introduction In 1999, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, prepared a National Policy and Macrolevel Action Strategy for Biodiversity through a consultative process. The document was a macro-level statement of policies, gaps and strategies needed for conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. It was however felt necessary to prepare detailed action plans at sub-state, state, regional and national levels based on this framework document. Towards this end, the Ministry has accessed funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for preparing the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). The NBSAP project envisages the assessment and stock taking of biodiversity-related information at various levels, including distribution of endemic and endangered species and site-specific threats and pressures. Key features of this project include emphasis on gender sensitive decentralised planning, and the use of interdisciplinary working groups to involve all sectors concerned with biodiversity conservation. Detailed action plans (at sub-state, state, and regional levels) so prepared will be consolidated to develop the national level action plan. Government agencies, non-governmental groups and village communities are already contributing