Red Sanders Fall Back In IUCN’s ‘Endangered’ Category – Free PDF Download

• Red Sanders (Red Sandalwood) has fallen back into the ‘endangered’ category in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. The species, Pterocarpus santalinus, is an Indian endemic tree species, with a restricted geographical range in the Eastern Ghats.

• The species is endemic to a distinct tract of forests in Andhra Pradesh. It was classified as ‘near threatened’ in 2018 and has now joined the ‘endangered’ list once again in 2021.
• It was a moment of celebration when the species was lifted off from the endangered category for the first time since 1997.
• The latest IUCN assessment stated: “Over the last three generations, the species has experienced a population decline of 50-80 per cent. It is assessed as Endangered”.

About Red Sanders

• Red Sanders usually grow in the rocky, degraded and fallow lands with Red Soil and hot and dry climate.
• Red sandalwood is known for its therapeutic properties and is in high demand for its cosmetic and medicinal properties. It is also used to make furniture and demand a high value in the international market.

Threats

• Illicit felling for smuggling, forest fires, cattle grazing and other anthropogenic threats.

Govt. Measures to curb illicit felling

• Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System can be effectively utilized to understand Red Sanders bearing forest for objectives of conservation, tree improvement and legal commerce.
• After mapping the Red Sanders habitats using multitemporal satellite data is complete, conservation plans are drawn for future sustainable utilization.

CITES status for Red Sanders

• Red Sanders is listed under Appendix II of CITES. As a result, it is banned from international trade. The harvest of the tree is also restricted across states, but illegal trade is there in practice.

IUCN red list

• The IUCN maintains a list — called the Red List — of flora and fauna species and categorises them based on their conservation status.

1. Least concern – It is for the species, which are abundant in numbers.
2. Extinct – It is for those species, which have completely disappeared from the planet.
3. Critically endangered – This category is for threatened species.
4. Endangered – Threatened species are added to this list
5. Vulnerable – The category is reserved for threatened species.

Sandalwood Spike Disease

• It is an infectious disease which is caused by phytoplasma.
• Phytoplasmas are bacterial parasites of plant tissues — which are transmitted by insect vectors and involved in plant-to-plant transmission.
• There is no cure as of now for the infection.
• Presently, there is no option but to cut down and remove the infected tree to prevent the spread of the disease.
• The disease was first reported in Kodagu, Karnataka in 1899.
• More than a million sandalwood trees were removed in the Kodagu and Mysore region between 1903 and 1916.

Eastern Ghats

• The eastern ghats run parallel to the eastern coastal plains of India.
• Unlike the western ghats, they are discontinuous in nature and is dissected by the rivers that drain into the Bay of Bengal. As discussed above, most of these rivers have their origin in the western ghats.

• It must be noted that the eastern ghats are lower in elevation than the western ghats.
• The highest peak of Eastern Ghats is the Jindhagada peak (1690 meters). It is also known as Arma Konda or Sitamma Konda.
• The difference in the elevation levels of the highest peaks in both the ghats can also be compared. Jindaghara of eastern ghats is of 1690 mts. This gives us a fair idea of the differences in elevation levels of the hills in both the ghats.
• The main crop produced in the eastern ghats is Rice, which is also the staple food of the people living in the region.

Preserving the Eastern Ghats

• Promotion of sustainable use of forest resources should be done in order to counter overexploitation.
• Government should incentivize settled agriculture in order to counter the impact of shifting agriculture because the practice of shifting agriculture will directly contribute to deforestation.
• Improving tree cover nationally can confer multiple benefits, including modulation of the monsoon, improved air quality and wider spaces for biodiversity to persist.
• Government should finance the usage of indigenous plants and trees for restoring and strengthening the peripheral areas of the forest of Eastern Ghats by tapping into the International Climate Fund available.

Question:
Which of the following species are NOT in the IUCN classification of threatened species.

1. Harmful
2. Extinct
3. Vulnerable
4. Endagered

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