A Konkan secret, the sada wants extra gentle

A mass blooming of Dipcadi vegetation on a sada.
| Picture Credit score: Manali Rane

The Konkan area positioned between the Arabian sea on one facet and the Western Ghats on the opposite is most well-known for its seashores and temples.

As one travels throughout the Western Ghats in direction of Ratnagiri district, the panorama slowly transitions from mountain ranges standing a thousand metres tall, with steep slopes, to rolling hills with flat tops regionally known as sada, that means a big flat space. They’re the results of centuries of abrasion.

The sada are barren a lot of the 12 months however grow to be reworked in the course of the monsoons. They’re much like the plateaux, regionally known as pathar, within the Satara district of Maharashtra, of which the Kaas Plateau is a well known instance.

The sada, just like the pathar, are rocky and harbour distinctive endemic flora that cowl it within the monsoon season. A research undertaken within the southern a part of Ratnagiri district between 2022 and 2024 explored the habitat and documented the biodiversity and the ecosystem companies they supply. (The writer was a part of the research group.)

The biodiversity survey recorded 459 plant species, of which 105 are endemic to the Konkan area. The crew recorded 31 species of reptiles, 13 species of amphibians, 169 species of birds, and 41 species of mammals within the area.

Through the monsoons, the locals use small patches of sada to develop rice and millets (like nanchani, Eleusine coracana) with conventional practices that don’t require the usage of pesticides and chemical fertilisers.

This mentioned, the sada itself is way extra attention-grabbing for its biodiversity and tradition.

The evaluation of ecosystem companies, in a research (to be peer-reviewed) by hydrologists Renie Thomas and Divyanshu Pawar, revealed the villages within the sada have entry to recent water all 12 months spherical regardless that they’re positioned between dry, rocky open land and valleys of meandering saline creeks studded with mangroves. 

This was discovered to be because of the sada’s geology. The extremely weathered lateritic soil layer on the highest acts as a catchment for the rainwater and recharges the groundwater.

The communities right here have entry to freshwater by open step or dug wells, springs, and perennial streams which can be conserved and maintained as a part of rituals the locals have devoted to deities. These observances additionally contain group guidelines  concerning the residents’ hygiene and the cleanliness of the pure commons.

(The world can also be host to artistic endeavors known as geoglyphs, dated to roughly 10,000 years in the past.)

These water our bodies have additionally grow to be habitats for freshwater turtles such because the susceptible Indian flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata) in addition to water sources for leopards, jackals, hyenas, barking deer, and migratory birds, amongst others.

The land-use patterns of this area are altering. The open land and a number of the croplands are more and more being transformed to orchards or residential areas, with numerous developmental tasks set to return up. Mining for laterite stones is one other menace.

The truth that the sada can also be categorized as a ‘wasteland’ within the Wasteland Atlas makes issues worse.

Manali Rane is a scientific officer with the Bombay Environmental Motion Group.