scholarly journals Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Services in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eklabya Sharma ◽  
Nakul Chettri
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Landscape Conservation ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
Hindu Kush ◽  
Mountain Development ◽  
Developing Knowledge

With 22% global land surface area, the mountains ecosystem is home to 13% of the total human populations. Evolved as a unique ecosystem, the mountain adds value with diverse ecosystems; tradition and culture as well as ecosystem services for socio-economic development in the mountain areas and beyond. As it caters half of the humanity with its diverse types of ecosystem services, the realization of its significance are still limited in national, regional and global discourses. In the conservation front, there has been a significant progress in the concept and practices from species focussed interventions to habitat and ecosystem/landscape conservation approaches. The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), known as the highest mountain ecosystems in the world is also the water tower for the region often referred as the third pole. This unique ecosystem is an important repository of biological and cultural diversities and source of varied ecosystems services to 240 million people living within and about a one third of global population living downstream. The region has been in spotlight for being part of the 36 ‘Global Biodiversity Hotspot’ as well as climate change hotspot. However, our understanding the dynamics of changing landscapes and climate and its linkage to people, mostly challenged by poverty are limited. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an inter-governmental regional knowledge and enabling centre, has been instrumental in developing knowledge about the dynamics of these fragile ecosystems and support its regional member countries through science based integrated approaches. Since its inception, ICIMOD has been engaged in developing knowledge and supporting policies for mountain development focusing on socio-economic, ecological and environmental dimensions. In this paper, we present the retrospect of our understanding and learnings in the HKH through transboundary landscape management and regional cooperation mostly focused on conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services perspectives. The paper reflects on changing paradigm and complex process for strengthening regional cooperation in the HKH.

scholarly journals Reconciling Mountain Biodiversity Conservation in a Changing Climate: A Hindu Kush-Himalayan Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Nakul Chettri
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Economic Resilience ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Hindu Kush ◽  
Cooperative Agreements ◽  
Mountain Development

Mountains occupy 24% of the global land surface area and are home to 12% of the world’s population. They have ecological, aesthetic, and socioeconomic significance, not only for those living in mountain areas, but also for people living beyond. The Hindu Kush-Himalayan region (HKH) expanding to over four million square kilometres is endowed with rich biodiversity, culture, and sources of varied goods and services that serve more than 200 million people living in the region and 1.3 billion people living in the river basins receive services from them. The countries sharing the HKH have set aside 39% of the biodiversity rich area for different systems of protection. However, in the recent years, the HKH is facing numerous drivers of environmental change including climate change. Various studies suggest that warming in the HKH has been much higher than the global average over the last 100 years and the HKH is already facing climate change threats at ecoregions, ecosystems and species levels. While climate change is a global problem requiring a global solution, the HKH countries have initiated various reconciling initiatives to link conservation with climate change for enhancing ecological and socio-economic resilience. However, there is serious paucity of expertise, capacity and data on climate change as well as biodiversity in the HKH bringing challenges in enhancing the resilience. Considering the significance of the HKH on local, regional, and global levels, it is imperative to close the gaps to meet the challenges arising from the consequences of climate change. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with its partners, has conceptualised a number of innovative conservation approaches with an objective to reconcile biodiversity conservation goals with climate change challenges. These conservation approaches have a huge potential for mutual benefits from the common good practices, resources and expertise and there is a need for more formal cooperative agreements between the various institutions and communities of the countries at the regional level for addressing regional issues of conservation in the changing climate.Conservation Science Vol.2(1) 2014: 17-27  

scholarly journals Recreational and Nature-Based Tourism as a Cultural Ecosystem Service. Assessment and Mapping in a Rural-Urban Gradient of Central Spain

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 343
Author(s):  
Cecilia Arnaiz-Schmitz ◽  
Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui ◽  
María F. Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Landscape Conservation ◽  
Urban Gradient ◽  
Social Ecological

Land management focused from the social-ecological perspective of ecosystem services should consider cultural services in decision-making processes. Nature-based tourism offers a great potential for landscape conservation, local development and the well-being of human populations. However, the subjectivity of recreational ecosystem services has meant a clear impediment to assessing and mapping them. In this study, an integrated numerical spatial method is developed, which quantifies the supply and demand of recreational ecosystem services and allows mapping their spatial correspondence along a rural-urban gradient. The procedure also allows quantifying the influence of the landscape structure and the presence of protected areas on the degree of coupling between supply of recreational ecosystem services and demand for outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism and reveals that protected areas are hotspots of recreational ecosystem services. The results obtained highlight the usefulness of the methodological procedure developed as a tool for sustainable land planning and management from an integrative social-ecological approach.

scholarly journals Oceanic islands and climate: using a multi-criteria model of drivers of change to select key conservation areas in Galapagos

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Escobar-Camacho ◽  
Paulina Rosero ◽  
Mauricio Castrejón ◽  
Carlos F. Mena ◽  
Francisco Cuesta
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Galapagos Islands ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Galápagos Islands ◽  
Drivers Of Change

AbstractThe unique marine and terrestrial ecosystems of the Galapagos Islands are highly vulnerable to human-based drivers of change, including the introduction of invasive species, unsustainable tourism, illegal fishing, overexploitation of ecosystem services, and climate change. These drivers can interact with climate-based drivers such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at multiple temporal and spatial scales, exacerbating their negative impacts on already fragile ecosystems and the socioeconomic system of the Archipelago. In this review, we performed a literature review based on published literature from 1945 to 2020 and local and global climate databases to analyze drivers of change in the Galapagos. We developed and applied a spatial impact assessment model to identify high-ecological value areas with high sensitivity and exposure scores to environmental change drivers. We identified 13 priority HEVA that encompass ca. 23% (14,715 km2) of the Galapagos Archipelago, distributed in nearly 3% of the Galapagos Marine Reserve and 20% Galapagos National Park. Current and future impacts are likely to concentrate on the inhabited islands’ highlands, whereas marine impacts concentrate along most of the Galapagos Islands’ shorelines. These results are important for guiding the design and implementation of adaptation measures aimed at increasing ecosystem resilience and human adaptive capacity in the face of global environmental change. Overall, these results will be valuable in their application for preserving Galapagos biota, securing the provision of vital ecosystem services for resident human populations, and sustaining the nature-based tourism industry.

scholarly journals The Influence of Land Use Change on Key Ecosystem Services and Their Relationships in a Mountain Region from Past to Future (1995–2050)

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 616
Author(s):  
Jie Gao ◽  
Xuguang Tang ◽  
Shiqiu Lin ◽  
Hongyan Bian
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Mountain Region ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Mountain Regions ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
The Government ◽  
Steep Slopes

The ecosystem services (ESs) provided by mountain regions can bring about benefits to people living in and around the mountains. Ecosystems in mountain areas are fragile and sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance. Understanding the effect of land use change on ESs and their relationships can lead to sustainable land use management in mountain regions with complex topography. Chongqing, as a typical mountain region, was selected as the site of this research. The long-term impacts of land use change on four key ESs (i.e., water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), carbon storage (CS), and habitat quality (HQ)) and their relationships were assessed from the past to the future (at five-year intervals, 1995–2050). Three future scenarios were constructed to represent the ecological restoration policy and different socioeconomic developments. From 1995 to 2015, WY and SC experienced overall increases. CS and HQ increased slightly at first and then decreased significantly. A scenario analysis suggested that, if the urban area continues to increase at low altitudes, by 2050, CS and HQ are predicted to decrease moderately. However, great improvements in SC, HQ, and CS are expected to be achieved by the middle of the century if the government continues to make efforts towards vegetation restoration on the steep slopes.

The HKH Call to Action to sustain mountain environments and improve livelihoods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Information Sharing ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Ecosystem Resilience ◽  
Regional Data ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Healthy Environment ◽  
Mountain Environments ◽  
Hindu Kush ◽  
Mountain Environment

This HKH Call to Action is based on the HKH Assessment, which was drafted in response to requests from governments in the region, meeting a demand for a comprehensive assessment of the region’s mountains, environments, and livelihoods and proposes actions towards a shared vision for the future of the HKH region, in which its societies and its people are prosperous, healthy, peaceful, and resilient in a healthy environment. To realize this vision, this HKH Call to Action elaborates six urgent actions, including: 1) promote and strengthen regional cooperation at all levels to sustain mountain environment and livelihoods; 2) recognize and prioritize the uniqueness of the HKH mountain people; 3) take concerted climate actions; 4) take accelerated actions to achieve the SDGs, consistent with the nine mountain priorities; 5) take decisive actions to enhance ecosystem resilience; and 6) promote regional data and information sharing.

A ‘Lengthy Digression’: Why Mining Lagged Elsewhere

2019 ◽  
pp. 163-206
Author(s):  
Jeannette Graulau
Keyword(s):  
The North ◽  
Ore Bodies ◽  
Catchment Areas ◽  
Hindu Kush ◽  
The World ◽  
Mining History ◽  
Silver Mining ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mountain Development ◽  
Mining Regions

This chapter provides the mining history of the mountains of the rest of the world. It begins with England in which major silver discoveries took place in Bere Ferrers or Bere Ferris, a valley of the Tamar River in North Devon, southwest of Dartmoor, and at Combe Martin in the north after the mid-thirteenth century. However, English mines were challenging as they were physically distant from the central arteries of international trade of continental Europe and the commercial cities with continental catchment areas. This chapter also talks about silver mining that flourished in the Persian Province of Khorasan, the Samanid region of Transoxiana, and the Hindu Kush. These are the lands of the most spectacular mountain heights, where mountains piled up one behind another and mountain development assumes its grandest forms. It ends with mining history in India in which its mining exploits did not compete with the achievements of European mining regions. Mining in Zawar endured technical difficulties. Geologist Bagghi states that miners worked on hard siliceous quarzitic ore bodies, where drilling today calls for the use of tungsten carbide bits.

scholarly journals A scalped peatscape on Nólsoy, Faroe Islands / Uppskornar torvheiðar í Nólsoy

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Edwards ◽  
Steffen Stummann Hansen ◽  
Gunnar Bjarnason
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Total Loss ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Faroe Islands ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
The Village ◽  
Population Pressures

<p><strong>Úrtak</strong></p><p>Økið  sunnan  fyri  bøgarðin  í  Nólsoy,  „Uppi í Heiðunum“, er uppskorið, har er eingin mógvur eftir og lítið og einki jørðildi. Slík uppskorin heiðalendi eru væl kend í skotsku oyggjunum og vísa á, at tørvurin á mógvi var so stórur í hesum oyggjunum, at heiðarnar vórðu uppskornar og gjørdist oyður. Í greinini verða hesi viðurskifti viðgjørd saman við fornfrøðiligu leivdunum, sum síggjast í økinum, møguliga komin undan í sambandi við, at torvheiðarnar vórðu uppskornar.</p><p> </p><p><strong>A</strong><strong>bstract</strong></p>An area of land south of the village of Nólsoy, Faroe Islands, has been stripped of its peat and turf capping. Such ‘scalping’ of the land surface is a recognised feature of peatland landscapes in the Northern Isles of Scotland and reflects the need for past human populations to obtain peat, even if population pressures result in the total loss of a valuable resource. Such aspects are discussed together with a consideration of the archaeological features which have been revealed from beneath the peat by scalping on Nólsoy.

scholarly journals Measuring the willingness of dive tourists to pay fishers not to fish in a no-take zone

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
OCTO
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Alternative Policy ◽  
Food Provision ◽  
Marine Areas ◽  
Policy Solutions

Ecosystems provide an array of direct and indirect services to human populations. In tropical marine areas, such ecosystem services often include food provision (i.e., fishing) and ecotourism (i.e., diving). In cases where there are conflicts between these services – such as where fishers want to fish but divers want to see abundant, biodiverse ecosystems – examining the economics of various alternative policy solutions may be useful.

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