Climate change effects in the Western Himalayan ecosystems of India: evidence and strategies

Abstract

Background: The fragile landscapes of the Himalayan region are highly susceptible to natural hazards, and there is ongoing concern about current and potential climate change impacts. This study provides background information on India's Western Himalayas and reviews evidence of warming as well as variability in precipitation and extreme events. Methods: Understanding and anticipating the impacts of climate change on Himalayan forest ecosystems and the services they provide to people are critical. Efforts to develop and implement effective policies and management strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation requires particular new research initiatives. The various studies initiated and conducted in the region are compiled here. Results: Several new initiatives taken by the Himalayan Forest Research Institute in Shimla are described. This includes new permanent observational field studies, some with mapped trees, in high altitude transitional zones for continuous monitoring of vegetation response. We have also presented new strategies for mitigating potential climate change effects in Himalayan forest ecosystems. Conclusions: Assessment of the ecological and genetic diversity of the Himalayan conifers is required to evaluate potential responses to changing climatic conditions. Conservation strategies for the important temperate medicinal plants need to be developed. The impact of climate change on insects and pathogens in the Himalayas also need to be assessed. Coordinated efforts are necessary to develop effective strategies for adaptation and mitigation.

Sar – Optical Remote Sensing Based Forest Cover and Greenness Esti-Mation Over India

“…Since Western Himalayan region is the best-studied ecoregion in India, yet the region observed a significant (14946.71 Km 2 ) decrease in forest cover during the last ten years , primarily due to higher dependency of local populace on forest resources. In recent years, the stress on forests of the WH has become more intense due to unsustainable developmental activities as well as an increased frequency of natural disasters in changing climatic conditions (Tewari et al, 2017).…”

Population structure and regeneration of Himalayan endemic Larix species in three high-altitude valleys in Nepal Himalaya

“…Fragility of the Himalayan landscapes and their susceptibility to natural hazards and concerns about current and potential climate change impacts are ongoing (Barnett et al 2005;Tewari and Verma 2017;Roy and Rathore 2019). The concerns are also mounting on the loss of biodiversity and threats to food security (Sharma et al 2009;Xu et al 2009).…”

Hydrological functioning of forested catchments, Central Himalayan Region, India

“…Substantial advancements have been made in forest hydrological research all over the globe; nevertheless, studies in the Himalayas are in their infancy (Qazi et al 2020). Many headwater catchments in the Central Himalayan Region (CHR) in India are covered with dense forests (Tiyagi et al 2014), which provide numerous ecosystem services to millions of people living in this region (Tiwari et al 2017). However, these services have not gained much attention in national economic decision-making (Pandey 2012).…”

“…Studies (Qazi et al 2012;Tiyagi et al 2014;Chauhan et al 2017;Qazi et al 2017;Qazi and Rai 2018) suggest that forests play a significant role in hydrological functioning of catchments in the CHR. Unfortunately, these forests are under severe stress due to dam construction, deforestation, overgrazing, tunneling, and other anthropogenic activities as well as climate change (Chaturvedi et al 2011;Gopalakrishnan et al 2011;Tiwari et al 2017), disrupting hydrological services at local or catchment scale in the CHR. Further, long term field-based data, which is the key for forest and water managers to understand and predict the spatial and temporal variability of hydrology, is also scarce in this region.…”