TerraGreen Magazine - September 2015

In this issue

We have as the Cover Story: Myristica Swamps: Restoring fast vanishing mini landscapes. The author says that Western Ghats are not merely a long chain of mountains. To recognize them as a ‘biodiversity hotspot’ as it is being clichéd would grossly fall short of revealing its tremendous ecological treasures. Replete with hundreds of species of plants, insects, birds, frogs, fishes, reptiles and spiders, much of the Western Ghats still needs be thoroughly understood, though. There are several unique habitats and landscapes less explored, that nurture this astounding array of life. Alongside, this rich repository of life forms, many indigenous human communities and their robust life traditions and cultures, which are intricately associated with the natural resources, add to the grandeur. With the myriads of marvels and mysteries associated with its landscapes, flora, fauna, and the human groups, the Western Ghats constitute an “Open–air Ecology lab” in the true sense. Myristica swamps are only metaphoric that direct our attention to such hidden marvels. The author draws our attention to the need for restoring the vanishing Mysritica swamps.