The range behind Kerala's rain warnings: the Western Ghats, inscribed as a World Heritage property under two natural criteria

Background

Kerala's districts are under rain warnings again, and the range that shapes that rain is the Western Ghats. UNESCO inscribed the Western Ghats on the World Heritage List in 2012 under criteria (ix) and (x), as a serial property of 39 component parts in 7 sub-clusters covering 795,315 ha. The mountains traverse the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, and cover around 140,000 square kilometres. UNESCO describes the range as older than the great Himalayan mountain chain and as one of the best examples of the tropical monsoon system on the planet, because the Ghats intercept the monsoon winds sweeping in from the south-west. Of nearly 650 tree species on the property, 352, or 54 per cent, are endemic. At least 325 globally threatened species on the IUCN Red List occur in the Western Ghats.