Western Ghats

The Western Ghats are a long chain of hills and mountains that run along India's western coast, from Gujarat in the north to near Kanyakumari in the south. They are about 1,600 km long and pass through six states. They are older than the Himalayas and are among the richest places for plants and animals on Earth. They also bring rain to much of South India and feed its biggest rivers.

Where exactly are they?

The Western Ghats (also called the Sahyadri in Maharashtra and Karnataka) start near the Tapi (Tapti) river close to the Gujarat-Maharashtra border. They run south through Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, ending near the southern tip of the peninsula. They are not one straight wall. Hill ranges such as the Nilgiris, Anamalai, Palani and Cardamom Hills are part of them.

How were they formed?

The Western Ghats are not "fold mountains" like the Himalayas. They are the steep western edge of the Deccan Plateau. Most geographers see them as a huge escarpment (a long, steep slope) formed when the western part of the land broke off and sank during the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. That is why the western side facing the sea is steep, while the eastern side slopes gently into the plateau.

Key physical features

• Highest peak: Anamudi (2,695 m) in the Anamalai Hills, Idukki district, Kerala. It is the highest peak in India south of the Himalayas.
• Other peaks: Doddabetta (Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu), Mullayanagiri (Karnataka), Kalsubai (highest in Maharashtra).
• Gaps: The Palghat (Palakkad) Gap in Kerala is the most important break in the chain. It links Kerala and Tamil Nadu and lets winds and people pass. The Goa Gap is another break.
• Passes (ghats): Thal Ghat and Bhor Ghat in Maharashtra carry road and rail routes from Mumbai to the interior.

Why are they called India's "water towers"?

When the south-west monsoon winds come from the Arabian Sea in June, they hit the Western Ghats and rise. As the air rises it cools, and the moisture falls as heavy rain on the western side. This is called orographic rainfall. The eastern side gets much less rain because the winds have already dropped most of their water. This drier area is called the rain-shadow region.

Many great rivers of the peninsula start in the Western Ghats:

• East-flowing: Godavari (from Trimbakeshwar, Maharashtra), Krishna (near Mahabaleshwar), Kaveri (from Talakaveri in Kodagu, Karnataka), and their tributaries. They flow into the Bay of Bengal.
• West-flowing: short, fast rivers like the Sharavathi (with the Jog Falls), Periyar and Mandovi flow into the Arabian Sea.

So the forests of the Ghats protect drinking water, farming and hydropower for hundreds of millions of people.

Why are they so rich in life?

High rainfall, many heights and long isolation have created a huge variety of species, many found nowhere else (this is called endemism).

• Of about 650 tree species, around 352 (54%) are endemic.
• A very large share of the Ghats' amphibians (frogs and caecilians) are endemic; studies put it at well over 70%.
• At least 325 globally threatened species (on the IUCN Red List) live here.
• Famous endemic animals: lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri tahr (the state animal of Tamil Nadu), Malabar large-spotted civet, purple frog, Malabar grey hornbill.

Global recognition

• Biodiversity hotspot: The "Western Ghats and Sri Lanka" is one of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots. It is also called one of the eight "hottest hotspots".
• UNESCO World Heritage Site: Inscribed in 2012 as a natural site under criteria (ix) (ongoing evolution, seen in species that developed after the Gondwana breakup) and (x) (exceptional biodiversity and endemism). It is a serial site made up of 39 component parts in 7 sub-clusters, spread over Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
• Biosphere Reserves: The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (1986) was India's first biosphere reserve and was later added to UNESCO's Man and Biosphere network. Agasthyamala is another biosphere reserve in the southern Ghats.
• Protected areas: Well-known ones include Silent Valley, Periyar and Eravikulam (Kerala), Bandipur, Nagarhole and Kudremukh (Karnataka), Mudumalai and Anamalai (Tamil Nadu).

How does the law protect the Ghats?

For years, the government has debated how much of the Ghats should get extra legal protection as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). In an ESA, harmful activities are banned or controlled, but people keep living and farming there.

• Gadgil Committee (2011): The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, led by ecologist Madhav Gadgil, said the entire Western Ghats should be an ESA. It split the Ghats into three zones (ESZ-I, ESZ-II, ESZ-III) by how sensitive each area is. It also wanted village bodies to have a big say.
• Kasturirangan Committee (2013): A High-Level Working Group led by K. Kasturirangan gave a narrower plan. It said only about 37% of the Ghats (about 60,000 sq km, mostly natural landscape) should be an ESA.
• Draft notifications: Since 2014, the Union environment ministry has issued draft ESA notifications under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Each draft lapsed without becoming final, mainly because states objected.
• Seventh draft (July 2026): It proposes 56,825.7 sq km across all six states as an ESA. Karnataka has the largest share and Gujarat the smallest. It would ban new mining, quarrying and sand mining, new thermal power plants, "red category" (most polluting) industries and very large building projects. Hydropower is allowed only with conditions. Farming, plantations and existing homes are not affected. As of October 2026, the notification is still not final.

Commonly confused concepts

• Western Ghats vs Eastern Ghats: The Western Ghats are continuous (with a few gaps), higher and get heavy rain. The Eastern Ghats are broken into separate hills by big east-flowing rivers like the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri, are generally lower and get less rain.
• Anamudi vs Doddabetta: Anamudi (Kerala) is the highest peak of the Western Ghats and of South India. Doddabetta (Tamil Nadu) is the highest peak of the Nilgiris.
• Hotspot vs World Heritage Site: A hotspot is a scientific label (given by Conservation International) for areas with very high endemism under severe threat. A World Heritage Site is a legal listing under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention of 1972.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• Loss and breaking up of forests: Plantations (tea, coffee, rubber), roads, dams and towns have split forests into small patches. Animals like elephants lose their corridors, which also raises human-wildlife conflict.
• Mining and quarrying: Iron ore mining (as in Goa and Kudremukh in the past) and stone quarrying damage slopes and rivers.
• Landslides and floods: Deforestation, quarrying and building on steep slopes add to disaster risk during extreme rain, as seen in Kerala in 2018 and Wayanad in 2024.
• Climate change: More intense rainfall events and warming threaten species that live only in cool high-altitude grasslands (shola grasslands).
• Way forward: finalise the ESA, protect elephant and wildlife corridors, restore shola forests and grasslands, regulate tourism, and give local communities a real share in conservation.

Concepts to Know

• Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA): An area notified by the Centre under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Activities that harm nature there, like mining or polluting factories, are banned or controlled. It is not a sanctuary: people still live and farm there.
• Endemic species: A species found naturally in only one place in the world. If it disappears there, it is gone forever.
• Escarpment: A long, steep slope or cliff that separates two areas of land at different heights.
• Orographic rainfall: Rain caused when moist winds are forced to rise over mountains, cool down and drop their moisture.
• Rain-shadow region: The dry side of a mountain range, which gets little rain because the winds have already lost their moisture on the other side.
• Serial site: A World Heritage Site made up of several separate pieces of land that together show its value.
• Shola forest: Patches of evergreen forest found in the valleys of high mountains in the southern Western Ghats, surrounded by grasslands.