Introduction

Study Area and Methodology

Result & Discussion

Conclusion

References

Land Use of SWG
The total forest cover of the southern Western Ghats is 39.2%. The state-wise forest cover shows that Karnataka has 17.6% of the total area, Kerala has 12.3%, whereas Tamil Nadu has 9.5%.
Land use of Kerala
Kerala mainly has 5 categories of forest types, i.e., Tropical wet evergreen forest, Tropical Moist Deciduous forest, Tropical dry deciduous forest, Shola forest, and Grasslands. Land Use of Kerala shows overall forest cover in the Kerala region of Western Ghats. The maximum land use is under horticulture (2278.72 sq km), with Malappuram having the maximum horticulture area of 43.5%, which primarily includes rubber and coconut. The cropland covers 3095.54 Km2 in Palakkad with the maximum cropland in Kerala (Table 5). This trend of increase in horticulture from cropland can be termed as coconut (Cocos nucifera) and rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) boom (Kumar, 2006) . Kerala's predominating land cover category is horticulture, covering 29.75% of the geographical area (Table 6). The forest cover was observed to be maximum in Idukki district with 45% of forest cover as compared to the other districts, whereas Alappuzha has minimum forest over. Alappuzha is the only district in Kerala without any forest cover. According to FSI report 2015, the forest cover of Kerala has been increased to 19239 sq km from 17922 sq km in the 2013 assessment. According to the recent FSI 2017, the forest cover in Kerala has further increased to 2.7%, i.e. 1043 sq km, compared to 2015. The Kerala forest cover is around 20321 sq km (52%). The present result shows a slight decrease in forest cover, i.e. 45%, which can be accounted for the increasing anthropogenic activities like deforestation, monoculture, and land use for agricultural activities. Increasing population has resulted in an increase in urbanization, which affects the land use of any state. The total built-up cover is 4.23% from the whole area, with Ernakulam covering the maximum in the SWG region. The accuracy of classification ranges from 0.78 to 0.85 (Kappa value).
Table 5. Land use statistics of Kerala

Table 6. Land Use analysis of Kerala part of SWG Land Use Land Use

Land Use	Comment
	The total forest cover of the southern Western Ghats is 39.2%. The state-wise forest cover shows that Karnataka has 17.6% of the total area, Kerala has 12.3% of the total area, whereas Tamil Nadu has 9.5%.
	The maximum land use is under horticulture (2278.72 Km2) in Kerala. The cropland covers 3095.54 Km2, with Palakkad having the maximum cropland in Kerala. Kerala forest cover is 45% of the total area.
	Evergreen- 56.95 sq km Moist Deciduous- 13.91 sq km Grassland- 82.50 sq km
	Evergreen- 2272.02 sq km Moist Deciduous- 291.41 sq km Grassland- 915.73 sq km
	Evergreen- 109.65 sq km Moist Deciduous- 591.72 sq km Dry Deciduous- 96.37 sq km Grassland- 43.11 sq km
	Evergreen- 88.28 sq km Moist Deciduous- 69.45 sq km Grassland- 80.50 sq km
	Evergreen- 248.39 sq km Moist Deciduous- 253.97 sq km Grassland- 196.36 sq km
	Evergreen- 776.97 sq km Moist Deciduous- 46.66 sq km Grassland- 115.98 sq km
	Evergreen- 1040.19 sq km Moist Deciduous- 368.16 sq km Grassland- 178.54 sq km
	Evergreen- 836.54 sq km Moist Deciduous- 413.05 sq km Dry Deciduous- 54.91 sq km Grassland- 191.20 sq km
	Evergreen- 278.24 sq km Moist Deciduous- 113.48 sq km Dry Deciduous- 62.81 sq km Grassland- 85.83 sq km
	Evergreen- 136.34 sq km Moist Deciduous- 335.48 sq km Dry Deciduous- 13.02 sq km Grassland- 81.30 sq km
	Evergreen- NA Moist Deciduous- NA Dry Deciduous- NA Grassland- NA
	Evergreen- 441.64 sq km Grassland- 123.84 sq km
	Evergreen- 388.20 sq km Moist Deciduous- 15.85 sq km Grassland- 170.79 sq km
	Evergreen- 42.16 sq km Moist Deciduous- 99.79 sq km Grassland- 13.04 sq km

Land use of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu mainly has Tropical evergreen (valleys, hilltops), Tropical moist deciduous, Tropical dry deciduous, Tropical thorn, and Montane subtropical forest as the major forest types. The total geographical cover of Tamil Nadu under the Western Ghats is 24534.54 sq km. The land use analysis depicts the dominating category in the State. The maximum area is covered by cropland with 31.20%, and horticulture covers around 19.47% of the total area (Table 7). Coconut and rubber plantations are dominant horticulture crops.
Tiruppur district has the maximum horticulture with 57.13% of the geographical area. The forest cover is mainly dominated by moist deciduous, shrubland, grassland, and scanty evergreen forests. The Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu has the maximum forest cover, with evergreen covering 24% of the district's total area. This district harbors plenty of wildlife and endemic biodiversity, but the current increase in horticulture like coffee, tea, and rubber has threatening the forest cover and biodiversity. As observed by the supervised classification, the total forest cover of Tamil Nadu is around 8839.66 sq km of SWG (Table 8). The rapid conversion of forested land for agricultural activity is affecting the forest cover in different districts of Tamil Nadu. The clearing of hill slopes for plantation of tea and coffee has also lead to a reduction in forest cover of the State. The built-up was also observed to be more in Coimbatore than any other district of Tamil Nadu. The accuracy assessment for the image ranges from 81 to 87% and Kappa value from 0.78 to 0.85.
Table 7. Land use statistics of Tamil Nadu

Table 8. Land Use Analysis of Tamil Nadu part of SWG

Land use	Comment
	The maximum area is covered by cropland with 31.20% of the total area, whereas Horticulture covers around 19.47% of the total area. The Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu has the maximum forest cover, with evergreen covering 24% of the district's total area.
	Evergreen- 118.41 sq km Moist Deciduous- 219.01 sq km Dry Deciduous- 138.17 sq km Grassland- 154.00 sq km
District	Statistics
	Evergreen- 559.06 sq km Moist Deciduous- 395.80 sq km Dry Deciduous- 235.88 sq km Grassland- 238.99 sq km
	Evergreen- 67.59 sq km Moist Deciduous- 138.45 sq km Dry Deciduous- 65.28 sq km Grassland- 68.56 sq km
	Evergreen- 231.53 sq km Moist Deciduous- 488.34 sq km Dry Deciduous- 43.53 sq km Grassland- 694.54 sq km
	Evergreen- 8.42 sq km Moist Deciduous- 88.74 sq km Dry Deciduous- 18.01 sq km Grassland- 48.97 sq km
	Evergreen- 0.50 sq km Moist Deciduous- 2.78 sq km Dry Deciduous- 14.28 sq km Grassland- 26.66 sq km
	Evergreen- 57.27 sq km Moist Deciduous- 524.43 sq km Dry Deciduous- 215.72 sq km Grassland- 412.55 sq km
	Evergreen- 618.71 sq km Moist Deciduous- 216.30 sq km Dry Deciduous- 695.37 sq km Grassland- 268.85 sq km
	Evergreen- 322.10 sq km Moist Deciduous- 680.87 sq km Dry Deciduous- 165.15 sq km Grassland- 112.97 sq km
	Evergreen- 113.30 sq km Moist Deciduous- 286.24 sq km Dry Deciduous- 23.13 sq km Grassland- 61.20 sq km

Land Use of Karnataka part of Southern Western Ghats
Karnataka's major forest types are Evergreen and semi-evergreen, Moist deciduous, Dry deciduous, Scrub and Thorny forest, and Un-wooded forest. The land-use classification was carried out using a supervised classification protocol. The total geographical area of Karnataka under the Western Ghats is 41040.7 sq km covering districts such as Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Udupi (Table 9). The land use analysis shows the maximum area covered in cropland with 32.07% of the total area of the Western Ghats region of Karnataka. Belgaum and Dharwad have the maximum coverage area under cropland compared with the rest of the district. Horticulture falls seconds after cropland in the cover area of Karnataka. As per the present study, the total forest cover under the Western Ghats of Karnataka is 16,537.54 sq km, with evergreen forest dominating the districts. Uttara Kannada has the maximum forest cover i.e., 12.5% of the total area of Karnataka as compared with the rest of the districts (Table 10). The maximum disturbances to the forest cover are the unauthorized conversion of forest land into agriculture (encroachments), the diversion of forest lands for other purposes, and wood logging by forest-based industries. The accuracy assessment for the image ranges from 81 to 87% and Kappa value from 0.78 to 0.85.
Table 9. Land use statistics of Karnataka part of SWG

Table 10. Land Use of Karnataka part of SWG

Land Use	Comment
	The maximum area is covered by cropland, with 32.07% of the Western Ghats region of Karnataka. The total forest cover of Karnataka under the Western Ghats is 16,537.54 sq km, with evergreen forest dominating the districts. Uttara Kannada has the maximum forest cover.
District	Statistics
	Evergreen- 337.68 sq km Moist Deciduous- 447.26 sq km Dry Deciduous- 454.61 sq km Grassland- 396.66 sq km
	Evergreen- 0.32 sq km Moist Deciduous- 0.72 sq km Dry Deciduous- 79.25 sq km Grassland- 43.91 sq km
	Evergreen- 446.74 sq km Moist Deciduous- 149.45 sq km Dry Deciduous- 149.45 sq km Grassland- 246.06 sq km
	Evergreen- 255.98 sq km Moist Deciduous- 185.04 sq km Dry Deciduous- 117.31 sq km Grassland- 104.43 sq km
	Moist Deciduous- 150.50 sq km Dry Deciduous- 521.95 sq km Grassland- 26.25 sq km
	Evergreen- 1090.46 sq km Moist Deciduous- 160.03 sq km Dry Deciduous- 443.21 sq km Grassland- 207.78 sq km
	Evergreen- 853.68 sq km Moist Deciduous- 663.20 sq km Dry Deciduous- 881.48 sq km Grassland- 65.62 sq km
	Moist Deciduous- 221.75 sq km Dry Deciduous- 299.88 sq km Grassland- 199.72 sq km
	Evergreen- 591.68 sq km Moist Deciduous- 432.54 sq km Dry Deciduous- 194.62 sq km Grassland- 126.17 sq km
	Evergreen- 841.92 sq km Moist Deciduous- 969.13 sq km Dry Deciduous- 76.20 sq km Grassland- 365.33 sq km
	Evergreen- 3427.75 sq km Moist Deciduous- 855.46 sq km Dry Deciduous- 762.24 sq km Grassland- 114.17 sq km

Fragmentation Analysis
Forest fragmentation is mainly a result of anthropogenic activities like encroachment by plantations, orchards, cropland, and mining activities. Habitat destruction, changes in the dispersal and migration process, and a significant loss to endemic biodiversity are consequences of fragmentation of native forests (Armenteras et al., 2003; Etter et al., 2006; Eldegard et al., 2015) . Tables 11-14 list the spatial extent of various types of forest fragments (interior, perforated, edge, transitional, and patch forests along with non-forested areas) across states of SWG. Out of the three states, districts of Tamil Nadu have the maximum extent of the non-forest area, i.e., 63.2% after that are districts of Kerala with 57% and then the districts Karnataka with 53% of non-forest in their respective states (Figure 5). Patches are created due to an increase in the fragmentation of forests. The area of patch forest in Kerala and Karnataka is almost similar, i.e., 4.9%, whereas Tamil Nadu has 3.1% of patch forest. The extent of the forest fragments can be inferred through the patch areas and the leftover interior forests. Increasing patch forests enhances the edge effect in any landscape. The edge forest was observed to be more in the districts of Karnataka (3.35%) than in the other two states. The forests fragmented by anthropogenic sources are at higher risk of further fragmentation or removal than forests fragmented by natural causes. This isolation of the forest patches negatively impacts the stand regeneration and adversely affects species' survival, which require contiguous forest patches for their survival and regeneration (Laurance et al., 1998, 2002; Niemi et al, 1998).

Table 11. Forest Fragmentation Statistics of Kerala

Table 12. Forest Fragmentation Statistics of Tamil Nadu

Table 13. Forest Fragmentation Statistics of Karnataka

Table 14. Forest Fragmentation of Southern Western Ghats
Forest Fragmentation Comment

Forest Fragmentation	Comment
	Interior forest is only around 15%. The area of patch forest in Kerala and Karnataka is 4.9%, whereas Tamil Nadu has 3.1% of patch forest. The edge forest was observed to be more in the districts of Karnataka (3.35%).
	Kerala has a total interior forest 4742.29 sq km, patch 1393.17 sq km, and edge 701.31 sq km from the total area.
District	Statistics
	Interior- 8.09 sq km Patch- 86.68 sq km Edge- 5.61 sq km
	Interior- 1125.59 sq km Patch- 134.92 sq km Edge- 266.31 sq km
	Interior- 14.58 sq km Patch- 70.23 sq km Edge- 11.58 sq km
	Interior- 261.05 sq km Patch- 110.20 sq km Edge- 41.28 sq km
	Interior- 347.93 sq km Patch- 148.38 sq km Edge- 45.59 sq km
	Interior- 695.93 sq km Patch- 146.56 sq km Edge- 93.60 sq km
	Interior- 1101.49 sq km Patch- 48.93 sq km Edge- 46.63 sq km
	Interior- 366.61 sq km Patch- 28.10 sq km Edge- 16.15 sq km
	Interior- 125.62 sq km Patch- 209.66 sq km Edge- 34.07 sq km
	Interior- 8.02 sq km Patch- 80.06 sq km Edge- 6.09 sq km
	Interior- 281.63 sq km Patch- 51.32 sq km Edge- 30.73 sq km
	Interior- 121.54 sq km Patch- 163.22 sq km Edge- 49.19 sq km
	Interior- 284.21 sq km Patch- 114.91 sq km Edge- 54.48 sq km
Forest Fragmentation of Tamil Nadu of SWG	Comment
	Tamil Nadu has total interior forest 4127.78 sq km, patch 766.06 sq km and edge 625.62 sq km from the total area.
District	Statistics
	Interior- 716.57 sq km Patch- 118.39 sq km Edge- 75.46 sq km
	Interior- 411.81 sq km Patch- 148.44 sq km Edge- 121.21 sq km
	Interior- 23.05 sq km Patch- 0.81 sq km Edge- 2.45 sq km
	Interior- 167.16 sq km Patch- 73.61 sq km Edge- 37.76 sq km
	Interior- 92.30 sq km Patch- 19.52 sq km Edge- 11.23 sq km
	Interior- 751.08 sq km Patch- 69.10 sq km Edge- 140.26 sq km
	Interior- 988.94 sq km Patch- 114.60 sq km Edge- 49.48 sq km
	Interior- 105.67 sq km Patch- 50.00 sq km Edge- 20.72 sq km
	Interior- 235.84 sq km Patch- 60.88 sq km Edge- 33.37 sq km
Forest Fragmentation of Karnataka Part of SWG	Comment
	Karnataka has a total interior forest of 5542.07 sq km, patch 2128.85 sq km, and edge 1374.13 sq km from the total area.
District	Statistics
	Interior- 604.26 sq km Patch- 361.62 sq km Edge- 124.78 sq km
	Interior- 5.09 sq km Patch- 53.21 sq km Edge- 10.66 sq km
	Interior- 278.16 sq km Patch- 219.86 sq km Edge- 110.46 sq km
	Interior- 47.04 sq km Patch- 207.46 sq km Edge- 39.31 sq km
	Interior- 506.04 sq km Patch- 33.64 sq km Edge- 27.83 sq km
	Interior- 427.82 sq km Patch- 39.54 sq km Edge- 27.05 sq km
	Interior- 385.83 sq km Patch- 245.48 sq km Edge- 118.55 sq km
	Interior- 624.75 sq km Patch- 295.36 sq km Edge- 204.60 sq km
	Interior- 460.35 sq km Patch- 249.38 sq km Edge- 101.96 sq km
	Interior- 1805.27 sq km Patch- 212.7 sq km Edge- 458.22 sq km
	Interior- 397.46 sq km Patch- 210.60 sq km Edge- 150.71 sq km

Human-Wildlife Conflict locations:

The human-animal conflict location details were compiled by reviewing published literature such as newspaper articles, forest reports, and journals. The causal factor of human-animal conflicts are assessed with the estimation of spatial patterns of forest fragmentation in the SWG. The results shown in Figure 6 depict that conflicts have been occurring in and around the edge and the patch forest. The top species that are involved in the conflict are the Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), Tigers (Panthera tigris), Leopards (Panthera pardus), Wild Dog (Dholes – Cuon alpinus), Jackal (Canis aureus), Gaur (Bos gaurus), Sloth Bear (Ursus ursinus), Sambar (Rusa unicolor), Cheetal (Axis axis), Wild Boar (Sussc rofa). Most villages around or in the protected areas are severely affected by the animals preying on the livestock and hampering their crops. Some of the villages like Shettihalli, Gudalur, Thengumar, Sirunugai, Kandiyur, Thasamapalayan, Kesave, Muthodi, Hebbe, Hipla, Madla, Moyar, Masinagudi, Amarambalam, Vazhikkadavu are severely affected due to these animals. Villages closer to the protected areas are affected by human-animal conflicts due to rampant grazing of livestock within reserves. Some of the villages are located inside the protected areas also res[ponsible for higher conflicts, for example, Shettihalli village in the Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary. The major conflict was observed due to tigers and leopards preying on their livestock along with tigers affecting their crops (Roshan et al., 2014) . Kesave, Muthodi, Hebbe villages in the Chikmagalur district of Karnataka were observed to be facing the same issue. The elephant is one of the species that come under the radar for the conflict in the whole of SWG due to the accute food and water shortages within the forests. Human-elephant conflict incidents were reported in Virajpet division which has increased over the years (Bal et al., 2011) . Another major conflict area is the north and south forest divisions of Nilambur in Mallapuram district, Kerala. The conflict species is elephants. It was observed that most villagers experienced difficulties associated with elephants (Rohini et al., 2016) . The fear related to the presence of elephants near their residences and restriction of the free movement was the most critical problem due to elephants. Previous studies in Kerala have observed a higher incidence of crop-raiding by elephants in the rainy season (Easa & Sankar 2001). But due to the increased fragmentation of forested land for agricultural activities, animals' habitat and food are shrinking in size, leading to increased hostile actions by elephants. One of the major areas where this hostile nature can be observed between elephants and humans is the wildlife sanctuary and protected areas in the Idduki district of Kerala, Dindigul, and Theni district of Tamil Nadu like Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, Agamalai reserve forest. These areas are dominated by evergreen and moist deciduous forest, but the forest is fragmented due to tea and coffee plantation in these areas as more patch forest and the perforated forest was observed through the fragmentation map. In the process of moving from one landscape to another, elephants raid the crops laid by the humans, increasing conflicts. Sugarcane, paddy, banana, coconut, and areca nut are the main crop targets of elephants which are available throughout the year. Roads like national highways laid inside the dense forest areas are also responsible for high mortality rates. Other conflict zones are observed in parts of Hassan and Tumkur districts of Karnataka, where relatively small numbers of elephants are using areas that are almost entirely homesteads and privately-owned agriculture that causes disproportionately large losses to human property and life while suffering intense retaliation and heavy mortality themselves (Madhusudan et al., 2015) .
Other central conflict districts are Chamarajanagar in Karnataka and The Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu. They both have protected areas (Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Nilgiri North Forest division) and Tiger reserves (Bandipur Tiger Reserve) which are fragmented, as seen in Table 15. They both constitute high biodiversity due to the high forested area of moist and dry deciduous in these regions. The clearing of forest areas for monoculture and tea plantation, especially in the Nilgiris region, has increased human-animal conflicts in some villages like Moyar, Masinagudi, and Chemmanatham. Recent incidences in Bandipur tiger reserve and Nagarahole tiger reserve about increased Human-Tiger / Leopard Conflict have thrown up alarming situations in these areas. During 2015-16, there were two incidents of human death caused by tigers, in which one tiger was shot down (as it had turned into a man-eater) while the other was captured and kept in Mysuru Zoo.
Under instances when the cattle are being preyed upon by wild animals. Also, delay in the payment of compensation to affected families has increased the instances of retaliatory wildlife killings by poisoning, gunning down, and electrocuting in and around protected areas.
Table 15. Wildlife corridors with Human-wildlife conflict affected areas

District	Wildlife Corridors (Pink color depicts wildlife corridor)	Conflict areas and causes
The Nilgiris		Gudalur is the most affected village. It is mainly affected by elephants and Tigers. Villages like Pattavayal, Padanthorai, Theppakadu, Mavanalla, Masinagudi, Moyar are present around the edge forest and in the perforated areas of the district.
Theni		Fragmentation is the main reason behind human-animal conflicts. Both Tiger and Elephant corridors are present in the district, affecting the villages near the patch and perforated forest. Kombai, Uttamapalayam, Cumbum are some of the villages affected.
Coimbatore		Croplands in patch forests (fragmented forest) along the path of elephant movement are prime reasons for conflict. Sirumugai, Karamadai, Periyanaickenpalayam are some of the villages affected.
Kodagu		Kodagu has the maximum number of villages. Most of the native forests in Kodagu district are fragmented due to mushrooming of buildings, etc., which has increased animal conflicts with the prevalence of patch and perforated forest areas in the district. Napoklu, Kokeri, Chowrira, Virajpet, Guyya are some of the affected villages. It is mainly affected by Elephants.
Shimoga		Tiger and elephant corridors are present in the district, which are mostly fragmented, consisting of patch and perforated forests. Affected villages are Kusgundi, Hosanagar as they are present close to the corridors.
Chamarajanagar		Elephants are the main reason for the conflict. The elephant corridor, Bandipur to Mudumalai, is perforated and consists of edge forest due to the presence of cropland nearby. Villages like Kadabur, Kundakere, and Hangalapura are affected villages.
Malappuram		Both the elephant and the tiger corridors are present. Mainly the conflict is associated with Elephants in the district. The villages are present near the fragmented forest and along the corridors as per the map. Vizhikkadavu and Amarambalam are the main villages affected.
Idukki		The corridor is present along the boundary of the Idukki district of Kerala and the Theni district of Tamil Nadu. The main cause of conflict is fragmentation as seen in the map along the corridors. Sinkukandam is one of the villages that is affected mainly by elephants movement.