Conservation Outlook Of Western Ghats Grim: IUCN Report

• 08 Dec 2020

• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Heritage Outlook 3 published recently, builds on previous reports from 2014 and 2017 to track whether the conservation of the World’s 252 natural world heritage sites is sufficient to protect them in the long term.
• According to the 2020 report, the conservation outlook of the mountain chain of the Western Ghats, one of the world’s eight hottest hot spots of biological diversity, is of significant concern.
• India's iconic Western Ghats, inscribed by UNESCO in 2012 as a natural world heritage site.
• Population pressure, urbanization,agricultural expansion, livestock grazing and forest fragmentation are posing serious threats to the species and habitats of the Western Ghats.
• Climate change will probably exacerbate a system already under pressure and has the potential to impact on the large-scale monsoonal processes, which influence the Western Ghats.