Sahyadri extend from the northern Satpura Range, extending from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu. It traverses the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala to the south. The major gaps in the range are the Goa Gap between the parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka, and the Palghat Gap between the Nilgiri Hills and the Anaimalai Hills on the Tamil Nadu and Kerala border. The mountains intercept the rain-bearing western monsoon winds, and are thus an area of high rainfall, especially on its western side.The dense forests also contribute to the area's precipitation by serving as a substratum for the condensation of moist rising orographic winds from the sea, releasing most of the moisture back into the air through transpiration, allowing it to condense later and fall again as rain.
The northern portion of the narrow coastal plain between the West Ghats and the Arabian Sea is known as the Konkan, the central part is called Kanara and the southern part is called Malabar. The Maharashtra Foothill area east of the Ghats is known as Desh, while the central Karnataka state 's eastern foothills are known as Malenadu. In Maharashtra and Karnataka the region is known as Sahyadri. At the Nilgiri mountains in northwestern Tamil Nadu, the Western Ghats cross the Eastern Ghats. The Nilgiris link the Shevaroys and Tirumala hills to the Biligiriranga Hills in southeastern Karnataka.South of the Palghat Gap are the Anamala Hills, situated in western Tamil Nadu and Kerala with smaller stretches further south, including the Cardamom Hills, then the Aryankavu Pass, and the Aralvaimozhi Pass near Kanyakumari. The range in Kerala is known as Sahyan, or Sahian. Anamudi is the highest point in the Western Ghats in the southern part of the country.The Karnataka area gets heavier rainfall on average than the Kerala, Maharashtra and Goa. Meanwhile, Karnataka's Ghats have less passes and gaps and thus the Karnataka 's western slopes receive heavy rainfall, more than 400 cm more than other Western Ghats regional parts.
The Western Ghats were covered in dense forests which provided native tribal people with wild food and natural habitats. The inaccessibility rendered it difficult to farm the land and establish settlements for people from the plain. Wide swaths of land have been cleared for agricultural plantations and timber since the British arrived in the region. Due to human activities, the Western Ghats forest was severely fragmented, especially clear-felling for tea , coffee, and teak plantations from 1860 to 1950.Species that are rare, endangered and specialist in ecosystems are more adversely affected and appear to be lost more quickly than other species. Complex and species-rich environments such as the tropical rainforest are affected much more negatively than other ecosystems.The region is ecologically sensitive to growth, and was named an ecological hotspot by ecologist Norman Myers in 1988. The area covers 5 percent of India 's land; 27 percent of all higher plant species are found here in India and 1,800 of these are endemic to the region. The range is home to at least 84 amphibian species, 16 species of birds, seven mammals and 1,600 flowering plants not found anywhere else in the world.The Government of India has created several protected areas including 2 biosphere reserves, 13 national parks to limit human access, many wildlife sanctuaries to protect unique endangered species and several reserve forests, all managed by their respective state's forest departments to conserve some of the still undeveloped ecoregions.The largest contiguous protected area in the Western Ghats is the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which comprises 5,500 square kilometers of Nagarahole's evergreen forests and Bandipur's deciduous forests in Karnataka, neighboring regions of Wayanad-Mukurthi in Kerala, and Mudumalai National Park-Sathyamangalam in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, Silent Valley is among India's last tracts of virgin tropical evergreen forest.
The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) classified the entire Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) in August 2011 and allocated three ecological sensitivity levels to their specific regions. The group, led by ecologist Madhav Gadgil, was appointed to assess Western Ghats' biodiversity and environmental problems by the Union Ministry of the Environment and Forests. The Gadgil Committee and the Kasturirangan Committee, its successor, recommended suggestions for the protection of the Western Ghats. The report by Gadgil was criticized as being too environmentally friendly and the report by Kasturirangan was branded as anti-environmental.