Why Keralam has launched India’s first ecosystem Red List assessment
Kerala has launched India's first Red List Assessment of Ecosystems to track the collapse of vital habitats like riparian forests and mangroves. The project aims to shift conservation strategies from individual species protection to comprehensive landscape management.
Why it matters
This initiative represents a significant policy shift in environmental management, providing empirical data to combat climate change and habitat loss in a biodiversity hotspot.
Driven by dam construction, invasive plantations, and escalating climate extremes, Keralam’s tropical riparian evergreen forests in the southern Western Ghats have suffered a devastating 83% loss over the past century. This alarming decline places these vital natural habitats on a path toward potential collapse within the next 20 to 40 years, earning them a Critically Endangered status status under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria.
Other irreplaceable habitats across the State, including delicate myristica swamps, high-altitude shola-grassland mosaics, and coastal mangroves, face similar existential threats from rapid urban expansion and rising sea levels.
In response to this crisis, the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB), has launched a pioneering Red List Assessment of Ecosystems (RLE) project. This initiative marks a first for any Indian State, aiming to transition conservation efforts from isolated species preservation to proactive, landscape-wide ecosystem management.
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