Celebrating Rainforests, Lungs of the Planet

Lungs of the planet, natural air-conditioning systems, provider for all our necessities, home to humans and other life forms and many more titles or tags can be assigned to the forests. June 22 is observed as World Rainforest Day as a reminder that we ought to protect this precious ecosystem.

Tall, evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall – is the shortest possible description of a rainforest, but there’s so so so much more than can be said and learned about rainforests. In India, rainforests are primarily found in the Western Ghats, Northeastern regions and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Needless to say these rainforest regions are rich in biodiversity and stunningly beautiful. Rainforests are believed to be our planet’s oldest living ecosystem, surviving from at least ten million years ago.

Western Ghats, that stretch all the way from Maharashtra (starting from a bit of Gujarat) and traversing along the west coast to Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu, is one of the hottest biodiversity hotspots in the world. Another region of biological diversity with unique flora and fauna is the Northeastern part of India that covers the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

The rainforests in Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a completely unique landscape. The island archipelago and its formation itself is an interesting topic (isolation from the continental landmass millions of years ago and volcanic formations) Far too many species hosted by the Andaman and Nicobar Island rainforests are unique and endemic, that are not found anywhere else in the world.

While the Western Ghats host the unique species like Giant Malabar Squirrel, Lion-tailed Macaque, and Nilgiri Tahr; the rainforests in northeastern region are home to one-horned rhinos, red panda and clouded leopard. Andaman Horseshoe Bat, Andaman Coucal, Andaman Woodpecker and more such species are found in the rainforests of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

There are far too many reasons that suggest just how critically important the rainforests are for our planet and us, the earthlings. Which is why I’m going to leave it at that. The pictures shared are from of some of rainforest regions that I’ve visited across Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Assam, and Meghalaya.