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Results show that most of the freshwater KBAs and KBA Focal Areas (some of which are Alliance for Zero
Extinction sites) have little or no overlap with the existing protected areas. Only one KBA Focal Area (in the
Moyar River KBA) is fully incorporated into the protected area network, and the Focal Areas of the Upper
Vaigai River and the Periyar KBAs are mostly covered (see Box 4.1). The remaining KBA Focal Areas receive
very little protection from protected areas, especially in lowland and coastal areas50. Despite the importance
for freshwater ecosystems in the region, with several highly diverse large river systems (e.g., Mekong River,
Brahmaputra River and Yangtze river) on which millions of people depend, no comprehensive assessment
of protected area coverage of freshwater biodiversity has been completed.
Box 4.1. Prioritizing freshwater fish conservation in Western Ghats Hotspot:
Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites
Sanjay Molur* and Rajeev Raghavan*,**
The rivers draining the Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot in India harbour an extraordinary diversity (~335
species) and endemism (65%) of freshwater fishes, many of which occur inside the terrestrial protected area
(PA) network that dots the landscape. The number of freshwater fish species that occur in some of these PAs
probably far exceeds those of mammals, birds and reptiles. Yet, protected areas in the Western Ghats and the
rest of India rarely acknowledge the importance, or need for conserving freshwater fish. This is worrying as some
of these PAs are potential freshwater ‘Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE)’ sites, i.e. sites that harbour 95% of the
population of one or more ‘Critically Endangered’ and/or ‘Endangered’ species.
The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), an IUCN category II Protected Area, is one such site. Although the PTR is
globally renowned for its large mammal diversity, and particularly its tiger conservation efforts, the reserve
harbours an exceptionally high diversity of endemic and threatened freshwater fishes, unmatched anywhere in
South Asia, and as such qualifies as a unique hotspot. However, this importance of PTR in combating global
freshwater fish extinctions has gone largely unnoticed and unrecognized the broad catchment area feeding
into the Periyar Lake with several primary and secondary order streams is the last refuge for one genus,
Lepidopygopsis, and eight species of freshwater fish51.
Three of these eight endemic species
are categorized as ‘Endangered’ in the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species thus
triggering the Alliance for Zero Extinction
(AZE) criteria, and qualifying PTR as an
AZE site, representing high conservation
priorities. Although these eight endemic
species are ‘protected’ in view of their
occurrence inside the boundary of the
reserve, no species specific, or general
‘fish’ conservation efforts are in place. On
the other hand, there are several stressors
that threaten the survival of these endemic
species, including the introduction,
escape and proliferation of exotic species,
unmanaged harvests and pollution.
Several research and outreach organizations are now working together to eliminate the existing threats and
conserve the endemic species of this reserve. This effort is coordinated by the Indian Alliance for Zero Extinction
(In AZE) based at the Zoo Outreach Organization (ZOO), Coimbatore, India, and the South Asia office of the IUCN
SSC/WI Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG). A project funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
(CEPF) has helped to improve awareness, capacity building, monitoring and policy interventions for freshwater
fish species, and has led to the listing of PTR as India’s first ‘Freshwater Alliance for Zero Extinction site’.A unique
participatory campaign was organized in April 2013 to eradicate the African Catfish, Clariasgariepinus, the
most important alien species in the water bodies of the reserve, which resulted in the capture and removal of 92
individuals.
*Zoo Outreach Organization (ZOO), Coimbatore, India
**Conservation Research Group (CRG), St. Albert’s College, Kochi, India
