Fwd: IUCN Report: 16% of Western Ghats Freshwater species "Threatened with Extinction"

[J.M. Garg]

Forwarding pl.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sujith C <suj...@gmail.com>
Date: 24 September 2011 20:52
Subject: IUCN Report: 16% of Western Ghats Freshwater species "Threatened with Extinction"

Hi All,

Many of you might have read this.. Hope such reports will have more impact
on policies than previous years!.

The IUCN official concludes that the report "..points to an urgent need for
environmental sustainability to be given higher priority in economic
development.”
http://www.iucn.org/knowledge/news/?8280/Collateral-damage-Western-Ghats-freshwater-species-in-peril


+++
 Some related info of conservation efforts was found at the CONSERVATION
INTERNATIONAL's Biodiversity Hotspots page on Western Ghats - info on the
Species, Threats and Projects:
http://www.conservation.org/where/priority_areas/hot
spots/asia-pacific/Western-Ghats-and-Sri-Lanka/Pages/default.aspx

Less than 15% of the Western Ghats is protected in 20 national parks and 68
sanctuaries. Considering IUCN categories I-IV, which offer a higher level of
protection, the figure drops to around 11percent, according to the World
Database on Protected Areas. Thus, the protected area network is far from
complete. One way of ensuring that the network of protected areas adequately
conserves biodiversity is through the identification and conservation of
“Key Biodiversity Areas” (KBAs). These are globally important sites for
biodiversity conservation, defined by the presence of irreplaceable and
threatened biodiversity: globally threatened species, restricted-range
species, and species that concentrate in globally significant numbers. KBAs
are biologically meaningful units that can be potentially managed for
conservation, defined in a bottom-up, data driven process.

The identification of KBAs in the Western Ghats was initiated in 2003,
coordinated locally by Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the
Environment (ATREE.org), and in collaboration with The Wildlife Conservation
Society-India (wcsindia.org) and the University of Agricultural Sciences in
Bangalore.
Building from preliminary data on Important Bird Areas, compiled by the
Bombay Natural History Society, data on globally threatened species of
mammals, birds, amphibians, plants, and to a lesser extent, reptiles and
fish, were synthesized to identify and delineate 126 KBAs in the Western
Ghats.



Regards,
Sujith

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With regards,
J.M.Garg (jmg...@gmail.com)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1

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