The kan forests of Central Western Ghats of Karnataka, were most often climax evergreen forests, preserved through generations by the village communities. Kans help in sustaining water and ensures food security in the region.
The Khata Kan of Nargodu-Koppa Village (Survey number 43), Sagara Taluk, Shimoga District, Karnataka, is facing severe threats from irrational allotment to private parties / land mafia for non-forestry purposes and from conflicting claims of ownership, with the forest department not enjoying adequate power to save these kans from liquidation of their natural vegetation. The grantees have also done encroachments within this climax forest area of high watershed value. The cutting of the climax forest for raising coffee or any other crop is totally unjustified. We therefore recommend that the Government of Karnataka take immediate action to arrest the degradation of kan forests due to irrational decisions by the local decision makers by:

• Proper survey and mapping of boundaries of all kans;
• Assign the kan forests to the Forest Department for conservation and sustainable management;
• Constituting Village Forest Committees for facilitating joint forest management of the kan forests;

• Constituting Village Lake Committees for maintaining and managing lakes;

• Taking speedy action on eviction of encroachers from the kans;
• Giving proper importance to the watershed value and biodiversity of the kans;
• Taking special care of threatened species and threatened micro-habitats within the kans;

• The HERITAGE SITES Status to be assigned to ‘kans’ under section 37(1) of Biological Diversity Act 2002, Government of India as the study affirms that kans are the repository of biological wealth of rare kind, and the need for adoption of holistic eco-system management for conservation of particularly the rare and endemic flora of the Western Ghats. The premium should be on conservation of the remaining evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, which are vital for the water security (perenniality of streams) and food security (sustenance of biodiversity). There still exists a chance to restore the lost natural evergreen to semi-evergreen forests through appropriate conservation and management practices.   

Now, there is an urgent need to protect native forests (meant for community) from these colonial mindset bureaucrats (whose objective is to exploit and loot natural resources – forests, wetlands,  etc. for their individual gains).