Ecosystem Profile WESTERN GHATS & SRI LANKA BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT WESTERN GHATS REGION FINAL DRAFT FOR SUBMISSION TO THE CEPF DONOR COUNCIL MARCH 8, 2007 Prepared by: Kamal S. Bawa, Arundhati Das and Jagdish Krishnaswamy (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology & the Environment - ATREE) K. Ullas Karanth, N. Samba Kumar and Madhu Rao (Wildlife Conservation Society) in collaboration with: Praveen Bhargav, Wildlife First K.N. Ganeshaiah, University of Agricultural Sciences Srinivas V., Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning incorporating contributions from: Narayani Barve, ATREE Sham Davande, ATREE Balanchandra Hegde, Sahyadri Wildlife and Forest Conservation Trust N.M. Ishwar, Wildlife Institute of India Zafar-ul Islam, Indian Bird Conservation Network Niren Jain, Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation Jayant Kulkarni, Envirosearch S. Lele, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment & Development M.D. Madhusudan, Nature Conservation Foundation Nandita Mahadev, University of Agricultural Sciences Kiran M.C., ATREE Prachi Mehta, Envirosearch Divya Mudappa, Nature Conservation Foundation Seema Purshothaman, ATREE Roopali Raghavan, ATREE T. R. Shankar Raman, Nature Conservation Foundation Sharmishta Sarkar, ATREE Mohammed Irfan Ullah, ATREE and with the technical support of: Conservation International-Center for Applied Biodiversity Science Assisted by the following experts and contributors: Rauf Ali Gladwin Joseph Uma Shaanker Rene Borges R. Kannan B. Siddharthan Jake Brunner Ajith Kumar C.S. Silori ii Milind Bunyan M.S.R. Murthy Mewa Singh Ravi Chellam Venkat Narayana H. Sudarshan B.A. Daniel T.S. Nayar R. Sukumar Ranjit Daniels Rohan Pethiyagoda R. Vasudeva Soubadra Devy Narendra Prasad K. Vasudevan P. Dharma Rajan M.K. Prasad Muthu Velautham P.S. Easa Asad Rahmani Arun Venkatraman Madhav Gadgil S.N. Rai Siddharth Yadav T. Ganesh Pratim Roy Santosh George P.S. Ramakrishnan Mukund Gorakshkar Kamala S. Rao Nimal Gunatilleke Kapil Sahasrabuddhe Devcharan Jathanna Darshan Shankar iii CONTENTS Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 The Ecosystem Profile ........................................................................................................ 1 Background......................................................................................................................... 4 Biological Importance......................................................................................................... 4 Conservation Outcomes.................................................................................................... 13 Socioeconomic Features ................................................................................................... 30 Synopsis of Current Threats.............................................................................................. 40 Synopsis of Current Investments ...................................................................................... 47 CEPF Niche for Investment.............................................................................................. 52 CEPF Program Focus and Investment Strategy................................................................ 53 Conclusions....................................................................................................................... 69 References......................................................................................................................... 71 Appendices........................................................................................................................ 76 iv INTRODUCTION The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a joint initiative of Conservation International (CI), the French Development Agency, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the World Bank designed to help safeguard the world's biodiversity hotspots. Conservation International administers the global program through a CEPF Secretariat. The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot, with its unique assemblages of plant and animal communities and endemic species, is globally important for conserving representative areas of the Earth’s biodiversity, making it worthy of international attention and CEPF funding. A fundamental purpose of CEPF is to engage civil society, such as community groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private enterprises, in biodiversity conservation in the hotspots. To guarantee their success, these efforts must complement existing strategies and frameworks established by national governments in the region. CEPF promotes a coordinated approach to conservation by facilitating working alliances among diverse groups and eliminating duplication of efforts. CEPF focuses on biological areas rather than political boundaries and also examines conservation threats on a corridor or landscape-scale basis. THE ECOSYSTEM PROFILE The Western Ghats, extending along the west coast of India, covers an area of 180,000 square kilometers (Figure 1). The Western Ghats comprises the major portion of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka Hotspot, one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots for conservation and one of the two on the Indian subcontinent. The area is extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. Although the total area is less than 6 percent of the land area of India, the Western Ghats contains more than 30 percent of all plant, fish, herpetofauna, bird, and mammal species found in India. Like other hotspots, the Western Ghats has a high proportion of endemic species. The region also has a spectacular assemblage of large mammals and is home to several nationally significant wildlife sanctuaries, tiger reserves, and national parks. The Western Ghats contains numerous medicinal plants and important genetic resources such as the wild relatives of grains (rice, barley, Eleucine coracana), fruits (mango, garcinias, banana, jackfruit), and spices (black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg). In addition to rich biodiversity, the Western Ghats is home to diverse social, religious, and linguistic groups. The high cultural diversity of rituals, customs, and lifestyles has led to the establishment of several religious institutions that strongly influence public opinion and the political decision-making process. Conservation challenges lie in engaging these heterogeneous social groups and involving them in community efforts aimed at biodiversity conservation and consolidation of fragmented habitats in the hotspot. Because it is a largely montane area that receives between 2,000 and 8,000 millimeters of annual rainfall within a short span of three to four months, the Western Ghats performs 1 important hydrological and watershed functions. Approximately 245 million people live in the peninsular Indian states that receive most of their water supply from rivers originating in the Western Ghats. Thus, the soils and waters of this region sustain the livelihoods of millions of people. With the possible exception of the Indo-Malayan region, no other hotspot impacts the lives of so many people. Biodiversity in the Western Ghats is threatened by a variety of human pressures. Of the approximately 180,000-square-kilometer area in the Western Ghats region, only one-third is under natural vegetation. Moreover, the existing forests are highly fragmented and facing the prospect of increasing degradation. This ecosystem profile provides an overview of the causes of biodiversity loss, describes current institutional frameworks and investments for conservation, and outlines strategic directions that can be implemented by civil society to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in the hotspot. Applicants will propose specific projects consistent with these broad directions and criteria. The ecosystem profile does not define the specific activities that prospective implementers may propose in the region, but outlines the strategy that will guide those activities. The strategic directions seek to capitalize on the tremendous social and human resources of the region. The Western Ghats is home to a number of outstanding civil society organizations. Human capital in the Western Ghats is huge and extraordinarily well equipped, in terms of education and motivation, to undertake conservation action. CEPF investments will strengthen the fledgling participation of civil society in biodiversity conservation and provide resources to a range of civil society actors who seek to catalyze change and undertake innovative and effective approaches to conservation. 2 Figure 1. Map of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka Hotspot Source: Political boundaries from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.- Digital Chart of the World. 3 BACKGROUND The ecosystem profile and five-year investment strategy for the Western Ghats region was developed from an analysis of primary and secondary data, consultation with experts, and stakeholder workshops. The preparation of the profile was coordinated by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – India Programme and the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore. Many experts participated in preparation of the Western Ghats Ecosystem Profile. A stakeholder workshop was held in Bangalore, India, to allow broader input from the conservation community and to provide inputs toward the formulation of a