The Eravicula National Park, the home of Nilgiri Tahr, proved to be the highest individual protected area in the evaluation of the effectiveness of proceedings performed by the Ministry of the Environment of the Union, Forest and Climate Change in the period 2020–2025.
Effective procedures of the management followed in national parks (NPs) and protected areas (PA) in Kerala, gained the highest position in the evaluation of management efficiency (mee) carried out by the Ministry of the Environment Union, Forest and Climate Change for 2020–2025.
Kerala was the only state that gained a “very good” ranking with a score of 76.22%. Karnataka (74,24), Panjab (71,74) and Himachal Pradesh (71,36) came up with “good” rating next time, according to the report.
Eravicula NP (ENP) Kerala and Dachigam NP in Jammu and Kashmir appeared as individual PA with the highest score with Mee score 92.97%.
According to the report, the Mathikettan Shola National Park was one of the “other well -managed places” with a score of 90.63%. According to its loan, Kerala has 21 protected areas.
By the way, ENP is one of the 39 series of western Ghats, which was declared a world heritage site by the UNESCO World Heritage Site as its excellent universal value in 2012.
The Mee score is calculated after “a comprehensive assessment of various factors, including the performance and management of these protected areas over time”. During the 2020-2025 cycle, up to 438 national parks and the sanctuary of wild animals were evaluated.
Chandigarh (85.16%) appeared as a topper between the Union, while Ladakh (34.9%) was the only region categorized as “poor”.
The Mathikettan Shola National Park is spread over an area of 12.82 km and is important part of the elephant corridor. It is also the only known habitat of a unique frog galaxy. The reported evaluation noted that there was very little information available from the frog galaxy and systematic environmental monitoring has not been introduced at present.
ENP has an area of 97 km2 and represents one of the largest neighboring Biomes of Shola-Grassland in high ranges of southern western Ghats. It is home to one of the last remaining populations of Nilgiri Tahr and about 20 species of Stillanthes, including the renowned Neelakurinji (Strobanthus kunthianus), which flowers every 12 years.
Recommendations for the protected area include adding neighboring areas from Kottayam to PA division, improving ecotourism facilities, removing exotic and invasive PA species, and requiring scientific institutions, NGOs and local nature to monitor and generate awareness.
Published – June 26, 2025 21:07
