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- With rising temperature and depleting food and water resources, wild animals from Seshachalam biosphere reserve like slender loris and pangolin are foraying into human habitations.
- IUCN has listed slender loris as Endangered, whereas they are listed under the Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972, according them the highest level of legal protection. The pangolin is also listed as endangered in the IUCN Red List.
- Seshachalam hills is the first Biosphere Reserve in Andhra Pradesh. It is located in southern Eastern Ghats of Chittoor and Kadapa districts. Biosphere Reserve (BR) is an international designation by UNESCO for representative parts of natural and cultural landscapes extending over large area of terrestrial or coastal/ marine ecosystems or a combination of them.
- The programme of ‘Biosphere Reserve’ was initiated by UNESCO in 1971. If a country declares one area as a biosphere reserve, it can nominate the same to under the UNESCOs Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme.
- The Biosphere Reserves should meet a minimal set of criteria for inclusion in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) under MAB programme. If UNESCO accepts the proposal of the government, the biosphere reserve then enters into the WNBR. There are 18 Biosphere Reserves in India. Of these, 11 are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
