Forests are the renewable resources, which are under continuous threat due to various anthropogenic interferences. The present paper discusses the risk caused due to the residual forest patches of eastern ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India, and the actions to be taken to protect them before they go into the phase of extinction. The paper focuses mainly on the significance of Kondapalli reserved forest of eastern ghats and on the role of anthropogenic factors in modifying the structure of these forests and on the possible causative and underlying factors that drive such changes. Though Kondapalli forest was declared as reserve forest, it is subjected to human disturbances, threatening the biodiversity and its population. The establishment of industries near to this forest and easy movement of people into the forest have caused a lot of damage to the vegetation. Encroachment, indiscriminate cutting of trees and haphazard grazing in forest areas have resulted in vast stretches of useless degraded scrub, eroded soils and bare hills. In this context, there is a need to analyze the current status of these forests and suggest measures to retain the remnant forests and recover wherever possible, thus providing various types of resources and for becoming a repository for biodiversity of the area.

Anthropogenic pressures have far exceeded human habitats and their economic spheres of influence have affected the neighboring ecological regions, at times even the sensitive ones, leading to a range of biodiversity hotspots. One such affected forest regions is Kondapalli forests, near the large town of Vijayawada (Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh State, India) that was once famous for the wooden toys from its wood species. In addition to loss in biodiversity and the endemic nature of some species that these forest patches supported, it has also led to the economic destruction of the local populace. But unfortunately, very little biological and social data is available to understand the man-environment interactions in these stretches leading to uncontrolled destruction of these forest remnants. Hence, there is a need to study and create an information base that could help restore, manage and conserve these forests in the hill ranges of eastern ghats.

In the present paper, we tried to focus on discussing the threat caused to residual forest patches of eastern ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India and the actions to be taken to protect them before they go into the phase of extinction. The paper focuses mainly on the significance of Kondapalli Reserve Forest (KRF) and on the role of anthropogenic factors in modifying the structure of these forests and on possible causative and underlying factors that drive such changes in the rapidly changing landscapes in and around KRF. The extent of anthropogenic interferences and its related processes have created a homogenous patch of urban dwelling in the immediate neighborhood of the KRF. The existence of residential structures in regions contiguous with the forest would have either direct/indirect impact on them. The research question that arises is about the special ecological services of KRF apart from forming lung spaces for the Vijayawada city as well as recreation/tourism and biodiversity sources.

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