Karnataka has now approached the Centre for assistance to set up an observatory to monitor the minute impacts of climate change on the ecology of this spot.

In the face of hundreds of small and medium infrastructure projects coming up in the forests of the Western Ghats, activists say the government first needs to strike a balance between development and ecological issues.

Principal secretary, department of forests, Meera Saxena told The Times of India that there was no study to monitor the impact of climate change over the years on the pristine land. "So many development projects have been carried out, but their repercussions have not been monitored. We are not allowing mining in these forests but there are clay mining and mini-hydel projects. Also, the impact over time also needs to be studied. We have appealed to the Centre to help us set up a research station to document these impacts," she told TOI. But the Centre is yet to approve funds for the observatory.

According to Conservation International, the Western Ghats have 6,000 vascular plant species in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka hotspots, of which more than 3,000 (52%) are endemic. There are also more than 80 endemic plant genera, many of which have only one species.

Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc, Raman Sukumar who had drafted papers on the impact of climate change on Indian forests, says it is quite vulnerable to global atmospheric changes and no study has been done so far with the focus on impact of climate change in particular. "It is a great idea to have a research station. It should be multi-disciplinary and should cover species, soils, forests, hydrology and other aspects. Internationally, a lot of attention goes into monitoring places like the Amazon rain forests," says Sukumar.

IISc is associated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and has a plot of forest called the Forest Dynamics Plot in Mudumalai, which is being monitored for the past 20 years on the different changes it's undergoing. The patch shows that the dry forest type is more resilient and can face drought better, but increase in forest fires can lead to increase in invasive species. Changes have been noticed in species composition also. "The forest type is similar to that of Karnataka and we can say that changes are happening. The Western Ghats have been studied widely but not with climate change orientation. It should be done now," he added.

Grassroots activists like leader of Appikko and Save The Western Ghats campaign, Panduranga Hegde, say the natural ecosystem is very essential for the horticultural varieties endemic to the Western Ghats, like spices. "The more you build infrastructure projects, the more will the micro climate change. They are building thermal power plants here. Can you imagine the impact? While it is good that the government is trying to monitor the impact, there is a clear contradiction. They should not only stop building these projects, they should talk to farmers and people from the hills who have been noticing changes in the micro climate and ecology," he said.

According to the campaigners, 260 mini-hydel projects are coming up in the ghats, of them, 40 have been approved. There are three huge power plants and many smaller ones underway in the thick of eco-sensitive forest zones.