Western Ghats

The Western Ghats form a north–south mountain chain along India's western peninsula, roughly parallel to the Arabian Sea coast. Their highlands and montane forest ecosystems intercept moisture-bearing southwest monsoon winds and influence the region's rainfall and tropical climate. The range is also an important watershed, with rivers flowing both west toward the Arabian Sea and east across the peninsula. The UNESCO World Heritage property represents selected areas of the broader mountain system rather than the entire range.

The Western Ghats are recognized internationally for their biological richness and high endemism. Their habitats include tropical evergreen forests, montane grasslands and shola forest mosaics. The region supports a wide range of plants and animals, including threatened species such as the Asian elephant, tiger, lion-tailed macaque and Nilgiri tahr. Species counts vary across surveys and boundaries, and new species continue to be documented. CEPF reports high endemism among flowering plants, amphibians and reptiles, while UNESCO notes that the World Heritage property contains at least 325 globally threatened species across several groups.

In 2012 UNESCO inscribed the Western Ghats as a serial natural property on the World Heritage List. It comprises 39 component parts in seven clusters, including protected areas such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserves across four Indian states. The inscription recognizes ecological processes, including the region's role in the monsoon system, as well as its biodiversity and evolutionary significance. The components are managed under different protection regimes, which makes coordination across sites an important conservation task.

The range faces pressures from habitat loss and fragmentation, infrastructure development, mining, agricultural expansion, invasive species and disturbance associated with some tourism. These pressures can affect species habitats and the connections wildlife needs to move across landscapes. IUCN's World Heritage Outlook assessment, finalized in 2025, rated the site's conservation outlook as ‘significant concern’ and called for coordinated conservation responses. The assessment also describes the Western Ghats as an important watershed and notes that environmental change and development decisions can have consequences for water and ecological processes. Conservation efforts therefore involve balancing biodiversity protection, watershed functions and the needs of communities living in and around the region.