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Western Ghats & Sri Lanka

Tab 1

Overview

Forest in Palni Hills key biodiversity area, Western Ghats

The Western Ghats of southwestern India and the highlands of southwestern Sri Lanka are strikingly similar in their geology, climate and evolutionary history. Together, they form one of the most densely populated of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots.

The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka Hotspot is extraordinarily rich in species, especially plants, found nowhere else. However, its forests face tremendous population pressure and have been dramatically impacted by demands for timber and agricultural land.

Our investments focus on the Western Ghats, which stretches across an area of 180,000 square kilometers along the west coast of India. The region performs important hydrological and watershed functions, sustaining the approximately 245 million people who live in the Indian states that receive most of their water supply from rivers originating in the region.

While once an area of dense forest, today only one-third of the Western Ghats’ natural vegetation remains in pristine condition. Many remaining forests are highly fragmented and face increasing degradation.

Tab 2

Strategy

Our investment in the Western Ghats began in June 2008 with the first grant to the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment to act as the regional implementation team.

The $4.5-million, five-year investment strategy focuses on five large landscapes—the Anamalai, Malnad-Kodagu, Mysore-Nilgiri, Periyar-Agasthyamalai, and Sahyadri-Konkan biodiversity conservation corridors—and 80 key biodiversity areas.

The strategy is based on an ecosystem profile developed with stakeholders that indicates new partnerships must be created for effective conservation efforts, and civil society organizations independently and in partnership 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 biologically rich areas in the region is inadequate.

Investments are guided by two strategic directions. Each project must be linked to a strategic direction to be approved for funding:

Enable action by diverse communities and partnerships to ensure conservation of key biodiversity areas and enhance connectivity in the corridors.
Improve the conservation of globally threatened species through systematic conservation planning and action.

A third strategic direction is designed for the regional implementation team to provide strategic leadership and effective coordination of CEPF investment.

Tab 3

Priorities

CEPF STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS	CEPF INVESTMENT PRIORITIES
1. Enable action by diverse communities and partnerships to ensure conservation of key biodiversity areas and enhance connectivity in the corridors	1.1 Test pilot models of community and private reserves to achieve conservation outcomes at priority sites and critical links in unprotected areas of the Anamalai and Malnad-Kodagu corridors as well as the Brahmagiri-Nagarhole critical link in the Mysore-Nilgiri corridor 1.2 Promote partnerships to identify, evaluate, and advocate for suitable mechanisms that incorporate critical links (biological corridors) into the protected area network in the Periyar-Agastyamalai, Mysore-Nilgiri and Malnad-Kodagu corridors 1.3 Support civil society to establish partnerships with state agencies to implement science-based management and conservation of priority sites in the Mysore-Nilgiri corridor
2. Improve the conservation of globally threatened species through systematic conservation planning and action	2.1 Monitor and assess the conservation status of globally threatened species with an emphasis on lesser-known organisms such as reptiles and fish 2.2 Support efforts to conserve Critically Endangered and Endangered species through the creation and implementation of species recovery and management plans 2.3 Evaluate the existing protected area network for adequate globally threatened species representation and assess effectiveness of protected area types in biodiversity conservation 2.4 Support interdisciplinary efforts to analyze and disseminate biodiversity data
3. Provide strategic leadership and effective coordination of CEPF investment through a regional implementation team	3.1 Build a broad constituency of civil society groups working across institutional and political boundaries toward achieving the shared conservation goals described in the ecosystem profile

Tab 4

Maps

Western Ghats & Sri Lanka Biodiversity Hotspot

More Maps

Conservation Outcomes and Priority Areas for CEPF Investment. Map (PDF - 2.8 MB)

Tab 5

Regional Resources

- Ecosystem profile, May 2007
- News
- Project database
- Publications