The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund launched a major investment program in the Western Ghats region of India today to help conserve the rich, natural wealth of the area and its many benefits to people.
The region stretches across 180,000 square kilometers of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot.
The program and its implementation team in the region, the
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, also issued a first
call for Letters of Inquiry for proposals from nongovernmental organizations and other private sector entities as part of the $4.5 million investment planned for this region.
Conservation of five large landscapes and 80 key biodiversity areas in the Western Ghats states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala will be emphasized as part of the investment strategy developed with stakeholders.
The strategy is based on analyses indicating that new partnerships must be created for effective conservation, and civil society groups independently and with government must play an important role in conservation and building awareness. In addition, current scientific knowledge about the status and distribution of species and biodiversity-rich areas in the region is inadequate.