Biological resources of a region constitute a range of layers such as intraspecific genetic diversity, diversity of species, their assemblages and interactions and, the diversity of ecosystems of the region (Figure 1). A systematic regional level conservation plan ought to incorporate steps to conserve all these components; but most of the present day conservation efforts are usually focused on specific layers rather than taking a comprehensive approach. Consequently, most of these programs are often overlapping, redundant and are cost ineffective in conserving the biological diversity of a region. Systematic conservation plans that aim at an effective conservation of as many components as possible with least overlap and minimal resources are being rigorously sought for (Ganeshaiah et aI., 1999, 2001; Margulis and Pressey, 2001). In this paper we propose a program aimed at the conservation of the gamut of biological resources of the entire Western Ghats region. The proposed protocol, a modification of that proposed for the conservation of the forest genetic resources (Ganeshaiah el ai., 2001), also incorporates certain elements from a similar program suggested by Margulis and Pressey (2001) for the conservation of the biological diversity of a region. The suggested program has three important steps: (a) Preliminary identification of the conservation areas based on two complementary approaches, viz. TOP-DOWN or Ecosystem approach and BOTTOM-UP or species-based approach (Ganeshaiah el al., 2001); (b) Incorporation of the
existing protected areas into the program and identifying the complementary sites for conservation (Margulis and Pressey, 2001) and; (c) Mapping threat patterns of the selected target areas of conservation and arriving at a management plan.