Assessment and monitoring of long-term forest cover changes (1920–2013) in Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot

• Published in: Journal of Earth System Science 2016-02, Vol.125 (1), p.103-114
• Main Authors: REDDY, C SUDHAKAR, JHA, C S, DADHWAL, V K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Biodiversity hot spots; Climate change; Conservation status; Deciduous forests; Deforestation; Dry forests; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Environmental monitoring; Forests; Land use; Population density; Risk assessment; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Spatial analysis
• ISSN: 0253-4126; 0973-774X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12040-015-0645-y

Western Ghats are considered as one of the global biodiversity hotspots. There is an information gap on conservation status of the biodiversity hotspots. This study has quantified estimates of deforestation in the Western Ghats over a period of past nine decades. The classified forest cover maps for 1920, 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2013 indicates 95,446 (73.1%), 63,123 (48.4%), 62,286 (47.7%), 61,551 (47.2%), 61,511 (47.1%) and 61,511 km 2 (47.1%) of the forest area, respectively. The rates of deforestation have been analyzed in different time phases, i.e., 1920–1975, 1975–1985, 1985–1995, 1995–2005 and 2005–2013. The grid cells of 1 km 2 have been generated for time series analysis and describing spatial changes in forests. The net rate of deforestation was found to be 0.75 during 1920–1975, 0.13 during 1975–1985, 0.12 during 1985–1995 and 0.01 during 1995–2005. Overall forest loss in Western Ghats was estimated as 33,579 km 2 (35.3% of the total forest) from 1920’s to 2013. Land use change analysis indicates highest transformation of forest to plantations, followed by agriculture and degradation to scrub. The dominant forest type is tropical semi-evergreen which comprises 21,678 km 2 (35.2%) of the total forest area of Western Ghats, followed by wet evergreen forest (30.6%), moist deciduous forest (24.8%) and dry deciduous forest (8.1%) in 2013. Even though it has the highest population density among the hotspots, there is no quantifiable net rate of deforestation from 2005 to 2013 which indicates increased measures of conservation.