Context:

• Utilising niche modelling to predict areas of high rattan diversity, the scientists have identified three rattan hotspots in the Western Ghats.
• The discovery was made near the Agastyamalai Biosphere Reserve, Silent Valley-Mukurthi National Parks and Coorg-Wayanad regions in the Western Ghats.

More Details:

• Rattan or cane is a light and flexible climbing palms species.
• More than half a million people are directly employed in harvesting and processing rattan in Southeast Asia, including India.
• All these areas fall outside existing protected area networks, where excessive unsustainable harvests could be a problem.

Source:TH