essay on western ghats: importance, threat & solutions(atleast 1200 words)
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Answer:
The Western Ghats aka Sahyadri is a mountain range that covers an area of 160,000 km2 in a stretch of 1,600 km parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traversing the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight hotspots of biological diversity in the world.It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India.
They influence Indian monsoon weather patterns by intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer.It contains a very large proportion of the country's flora and fauna, many of which are only found in India and nowhere else in the world.The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain, called Konkan, along the Arabian Sea. A total of thirty-nine areas in the Western Ghats, including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests, were designated as world heritage sites in 2012 – twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, six in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra. it is a biodiversity hotspot that contains a large proportion of the country's plant and animal species; many of which are only found here and nowhere else in the world.
The Western Ghats were once covered in dense forests. Today, a large part of the range has been converted to agricultural land for tea, coffee, rubber and oil palm, cleared for livestock grazing, reservoirs and roads. The growth of populations around protected areas and other forests has also led to habitat destruction, increased fragmentation, wildlife poaching and human-wildlife conflict. The ministry of envt and forest appointed the gadgil comite in order to bring up why and how we need to conserve western Ghats. The comite came up with the issues that Over the last half a century of unbridled encroachment and plunder by forest mafia, mine-quarry mafia, land and real estate mafias , more than 40 percent of the forests including very rare flora and fauna of this region which is accorded World Heritage Status by IUCN has been destroyed beyond redemption, even as the Constitutional rights of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest-Dwellers are violated.
The Western Ghats do not belong to this generation alone and it is everyone’s duty to preserve it for posterity.
Hope it helps!
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Answer:
The Western Ghats, also known as ‘Sahyadri’, constitute a 1600 km long mountain chain along the west coast of India. It runs parallel to the West coast of India from the river Tapi in the north to Kanyakumari in the south. It covers a total area of 160,000 square kms and traverses through six States viz. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The Western Ghats, also known as ‘Sahyadri’, constitute a 1600 km long mountain chain along the west coast of India. It runs parallel to the West coast of India from the river Tapi in the north to Kanyakumari in the south. It covers a total area of 160,000 square kms and traverses through six States viz. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.It experiences tropical humid climate in lower reaches, and climate is cooler in the upper reaches. The western side of the Ghat receives more rainfall than the eastern side. There are four major forest types in the Western Ghats: evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, and dry deciduous. Western Ghats was declared as a world heritage site in 2012 by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The Western Ghats perform important hydrological and watershed functions. It feeds large number of perennial rivers of peninsular India including the three major eastward-flowing rivers Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri. The peninsular Indian states that receive most of their water supply from rivers originating in the Western Ghats. The mountains of the Western Ghats and their characteristic montane forest ecosystems influence the Indian monsoon weather patterns that mediate the warm tropical climate of the region
The Western Ghats perform important hydrological and watershed functions. It feeds large number of perennial rivers of peninsular India including the three major eastward-flowing rivers Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri. The peninsular Indian states that receive most of their water supply from rivers originating in the Western Ghats. The mountains of the Western Ghats and their characteristic montane forest ecosystems influence the Indian monsoon weather patterns that mediate the warm tropical climate of the regionThe Ghats act as a key barrier, intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that blow from the south-west during late summer. The forests of Western Ghats play a significant and important ecological function in sequestration of atmospheric CO2 and hence have an important role in climate change. It is estimated that they neutralize around 4 million tonnes of carbon every year- around 10% of emissions neutralised by all Indian forests.
With a steep increase in iron ore prices and demand for lower grade ores, mining activities have grown rapidly especially in Goa and often in violation of all laws, resulting in serious environmental damage and social disruption. Sand mining has emerged as a major threat in Kerala. Unsustainable mining has increased vulnerability to landslides, damaged water sources and agriculture, thus negatively affected the livelihoods of the people living in those areas. Livestock grazing within and bordering protected areas by high densities of livestock (cattle and goats) is a serious problem causing habitat degradation across the Western Ghats. Given that the Western Ghats exists within an intensely human-dominated landscape, human-wildlife conflicts are a common phenomenon. For example, villagers living close to Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in the State of Karnataka, lose approximately 11 percent of their annual grain production to raiding elephants annually (CEPF).
Government has taken measures to conserve the fast declining biological diversity with the establishment of Protected Area network, tiger reserves and biosphere reserves. Nearly 10 per cent of the total area of Western Ghats is currently covered under protected areas. The government has also taken initiative to demarcate Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA.) These areas are not just about regulation of development but are also intimately linked to positive promotion of environment-friendly and socially inclusive development.