Under their barren look, the laterite hills in northern Kerala conceal patches of biodiversity-rich small groves, known as Kanam in local parlance.
With ecological significance of these hills remaining unknown, Kanams are recorded as waste lands in revenue records and often assigned to development projects. Mining too is damaging this system. As the laterite hills are recorded as waste land since it is not productive for agriculture there is the tendency to allot these areas to large-scale projects, which leads to the destruction of the unique ecosystem, pointed out Dr. Sreejith Namboodiri from the Kerala Forest Research Institute in Thrissur.
Realising the ecological relevance of the ecosystems supported by Kanams, which don’t enjoy any legal protection, a group of scientists of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Kerala, have taken a green step to protect them.
The team including Dr. Namboodiri and V. B. Sreekumar and two research scholars who surveyed and mapped some of the Kanams, have suggested a new concept known as Eco-Grove as the first step towards its classification and conservation. The concept was presented in an international conference on biodiversity.
The team attempted to define the newly identified ecosystem which does not come under the ambit of any of the existing systems. It is defined as man-made or natural systems dominated by trees and protected by an individual or community with or without any rituals or beliefs attached to them or law enforced by authorities.
It is protected by locals who have realised the ecological significances of Kanams and services rendered by the system, explained a scientific paper by the researchers.
The floral diversity of four Kanams (Kanayi, Vannathi, Easwaran, and Vattappoyil) in the Kavvayi River Basin caught the researchers by surprise. They were able to document 452 plant species in these four Kanams. Of these, 56 were endemic to the area and 35 were endemic to Western Ghats. They also reported that two endemic species recorded from these areas were classified as endangered and five as vulnerable to extinction in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
From Vattappoyil Kanam alone, they recorded the presence of 155 species of angiosperms, 52 species of birds, 86 species of butterflies, 22 species of reptiles, 17 amphibians, and 43 spiders. The presence of the rich diversity of flora and fauna indicated the importance of the unique ecosystem and called for urgent conservation measures.
