Western Ghats need more attention: IUCN

The mountain range and Manas Wildlife Sanctuary are sites of ‘significant concern,’ says global body

A file picture of partial view from Nelliyampathy hills near Palakkad in Kerala.One of the little known hill stations of South India, is blessed with ever green forests, a number of wild animals, sprawling tea gardens, coffee, cardamom and orange plantations add beauty to this summer destination.Nelliyampathy is located on the high ranges of the Western Ghats and offers a stunning view of the Sholayar Pass. It is situated at a height of 467 m to 1572 m above sea level. It is on the border between Tamil Nadu and Kerala and so lies in the middle of many other tourist destinations.Photo:K_K_Mustafah

Western Ghats and Manas Wildlife Sanctuary face ‘significant concern,’ says the IUCN World Heritage Outlook 2 report, putting them in the second highest risk category in the global assessment.

The IUCN considered the status of 241 natural world heritage sites. The two Indian areas were so classified based on their values being “threatened” or showing signs of deterioration.

The report called for “significant additional conservation measures” to maintain and/or restore values over the medium to long term.

The Kaziranga and Sundarbans National Parks were classified as good, with some concerns. There were no Indian sites in the critical category.

The report said that the “fact that so much biodiversity remains in the Western Ghats, given the tremendous population pressure surrounding the property, is extraordinary.”

Many factors severely threatened the Outstanding Universal Value of the region and required coordinated conservation, it said.

The 39 serial sites of the Ghats were “under increasing population and developmental pressure” that required intensive and targeted management to conserve existing values and remedy past damage, it said.

Mining threat

Grazing, massive pilgrimage tourism and mining are among the identified threats. “Although most mines have been excluded from the property, there remain mining concerns in Sindhudurg in Maharashtra. Similarly, Kudremukh National Park has a large iron-ore mine in the centre which, although the State Party has re-confirmed that “no mining occurs at present, holds the potential to be reactivated,” it noted.

The report noted that about 50 million people live in the Western Ghats Region, resulting in greater pressures than many protected areas around the world.” Forest loss, encroachment and conversion affected the ghats.

In Manas, the threat, although low, came from unsustainable and illegal logging. Monitoring operations by staff was being done. In recent years the level of poaching here had again increased. Recent cases of rhino poaching were linked to the activity of insurgent groups.

These groups also reportedly poached deer and buffalo.