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This
agro-ecoregion comprises Sahayadris, western coastal plains of Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Kerala
States,
including Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu. The region occupies an area of
11.1 m
ha, representing 3.6 per cent of the total geographical area of the
country.
The climate is characterized by hot and humid summer and warm winter.
The mean
annual temperature varies between 25°C and 28°C. The agro-ecoregion
comprises
the group of islands of Andaman and Nicobar in the east and that of Lakshadweep
in the west. The Lakshadweep
islands receive 1600
mm rainfall
representing humid climate, and the Andaman-Nicobar group of islands
receive 3000 mm rainfall representing humid climate.
The
natural vegetation comprises tropical rain (evergreen) and littoral and
swamp
forests. About 2/3 of the Andaman is under native forest and
agriculture is
confined only to specific areas around habitations, where the dominant
crop
grown is rice. In general, the land use is dominated by plantation
crops, such
as coconut, arecanut, oilpalm with or without intercultivation of
pineapple,
tapioca and pepper.
In Lakshadweep,
rice
is mainly grown
under lowland conditions. Coconut is the main plantation crop with high
yield.
Besides agriculture, marine fishery is an important means of
subsistence for
the people.
Constraints
- Waterlogging, resulting from imperfect drainage conditions
affects
crop
growth in the coastal plains western coasts.
- Steep slopes, causing runoff, leads to severe soil erosion
in western
coasts.
- Inundation of land area results in localised saline marshes
in
western
coastal areas.
- Degradation of the tropical rain-forest ecosystem
leads to severe
soil
erosion hazard. With the clearing of rain forests, the ecosystem is
disturbed
resulting in severe soil erosion.
- Inundation of coastal areas leads to saline marshes
and consequently
formation of acid sulphate soils in the two islands. [1]
- Gradual
increase in areas under mangroves suggests increase in
degradation of
the coastal areas of the islands.
India's
climate is dominated by the southwest monsoon. Heavier rainfall during
summer
could increase flooding, but the monsoon may fail with the increasing
frequency
and intensity of the El Nino phenomenon.
With
over 6,500 kilometres of low-lying, densely populated land, millions of
Indians
are at risk from sea-level rise. [2]
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