Impacts of climate change on Yerramalais forest of Eastern Ghats of Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh, India and options for adaptation

Biodiversity is an element of the natural resource base, which is one of the main components of eco-environment system. It would be noted that the biodiversity in the system of natural resources brings the sustainability in the production and utilization of the eco-environment system on the earth. Biodiversity changes caused by anthropogenic activities through over mining, over grazing, deforestation, and forest-fires etc. are studied in Yerramalais forest of Eastern Ghats. Other important factors of global change interacting synergistically with climatic factors are also mentioned, human greed is also one major reason for its degradation as they only think for today and not for their future. The forest vegetation is declining tremendously for the past 50 decades due to climatic changes, resulting in thee disappearance of flora at an alarming rate leading to the loss of biodiversity. Climate change poses major new challenges to biodiversity conservation. Increased population and uncontrolled human activities have misused the natural resources which led to the disturbance in the ecosystem and scarcity of natural resources.   Key words: Nallamalais, yerramalais, soil erosion, firewood, tribal communities, deforestation.