Introduction

The WG is one among 36 global biodiversity hotspots (https://www.conservation.org/) and 8 hottest hotspots of biodiversity (https://www.iucn.org/) with the exceptional endemic flora and fauna. The region is endowed with 4,600+ species of flowering plants (38% endemics), 330 butterflies (11% endemics), 156 reptiles (62% endemics), 508 birds (4% endemics), 120 mammals (12% endemics), 289 fishes (41% endemics) and 135 amphibians (75% endemics). It covers an area of approximately 160,000 sq. km and extends from 8° N to 21° N latitudes and 73° E to 77° E longitudes. It is considered as a water tower of India due to numerous streams originates and draining millions of hectares. The rivers of WG sustains water ensuring water and food security of 245+ million people in the peninsular Indian states. WG has 261 persons per square kilometer located in six states under such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujrat and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Union Territory). The region has tropical evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, scrub jungles, sholas, savannas including the high rainfall savannas of which 10% of the forest area is under protection legally. The region has 261 persons per square kilometer density of population. Areca nut, coconut, coffee, tea, rubber, spices, paddy, sugarcane, cereals, cotton are major agriculture and horticulture products grown across the regions.

The current issue of Sahyadri E News (Sahyadri E News LXXXIV) presents the plant diversity in Goa, which is located in central western Ghats and the eastern part of Goa is covered with the Western Ghats.

Plant diversity across different forest patches were investigated through field visits revealed valuable insights into the conservation of floral diversity in the region and help in the sustainable management of natural resources. The enumeration of floral diversity was done by referring online flora, Published books and research papers as well as the data from field visits. Plant diversity in the forest ecosystem of Goa is diverse, with a total of 1041 species belonging to 494 genera and 151 families. Threats to the plant diversity include land degradation leading to deforestation, conversion of forests into monoculture plantations, etc.