HYDERABAD: The core forest area of Eastern Ghats which passes through Odisha, Telangana, AP, Tamil Nadu and parts of Chattisgarh and Karnataka has decreased by almost 32,200 square kilometer(sq.km) between 1920 and 2015. The overall forest cover, spread over 43.4 per cent of Eastern Ghats in 1920, reduced to 27.5 per cent by 2015. The areas to have lost maximum green cover are Mahabubnagar of Telangana and Gajapathi in Odisha.
It’s not just loss of green cover. Plants and trees endemic to the Eastern Ghats (native to the region and not found elsewhere) are now facing mass extinction. These Rare, Endangered and Threatened (RET) species have already lost 11.4 per cent of their primary habitat. These findings were reported in a research paper titled ‘Long-term land use and land cover changes (1920-2015) in Eastern Ghats, India published this month in Ecological Indicators journal.
The study reported that loss in forest cover was predominantly due to forest land being diverted for agriculture — 1,407 sq km was lost between 1920 and 2015. Conversion of forest land to scrub/grassland, rise in mining area — by 340 sq km — and increase in settlements have also contributed to this.
Interestingly, the study found that endemic and RET species were found more in number outside protected areas (national parks and sanctuaries) than inside these parks.
For example, in a sample of land considered for study in the Eastern Ghats, the researchers estimated number of endemic, RET, economically and medicinally important species to be 1,693, out of which 245 were RET species and 46 were endemic species. Of them, a massive 1,207 species were more in numbers outside the protected areas. Totally, 62 per cent of RET species and 76 per cent of the endemic species were also observed outside the protected areas.
Fragmentation of forests is a serious concern threatening the endemic and RET species. The total number of forest patches increased from 1,509 in 1920 to a massive 9,457 in 2015. This is crucial because endemic species were found to thrive in less fragmented and less disturbed landscapes. “In 1920, the habitat was intact and continuous for both the species(endemic and RET). In 2015, the intact forests got fragmented and resulted in the isolation of habitats,” the study noted.