Abstract

Climate change has become a widespread problem in recent years. It is one of the most important global environmental challenges affecting all the natural ecosystems of the world. Various parameters such as increased CO2 levels, faster glacier melts, rainfall variability and severe drought have been associated with climate change. Biodiversity is influenced by climate change in different ways including shifts in ranges, changes in relative abundance within species ranges, and subtler changes in activity timing and microhabitat use. Soil properties and water resources are affected by the fast-changing climate. All these consequences demand integrated management approaches, proper planning and designing policies to safeguard biodiversity and hence environment. The present review describes the effect of changing climate on prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities, environment, and economics, the response of communities to such changes and conservation strategies that could be adopted to respond to these changes.

Key words: Biodiversity, Climate change, Conservation, Economics, Environment, Sustainability