Eklabya Sharma

Impact of Firewood Extraction on Tree Structure, Regeneration and Woody Biomass Productivity in a Trekking Corridor of the Sikkim Himalaya

Abstract Forest cover types, tree distribution pattern, species diversity, net woody biomass productivity, and firewood extraction rates were studied along a trekking corridor (Yuksam–Dzongri) in Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, India. For the last 2 decades the area has been facing immense pressure on its natural resources because of an increase in the numbers of tourists and the lack of effective regulation by park authorities. To assess this situation the study sites were categorized as closed canopy (CC) forest and open canopy (OC) forest (disturbed) at upper forest (UF) and lower forest (LF) sites, on the basis of firewood extraction pressure from the community and tourism enterprises. The results showed significant variations in diversity, richness, structure, productivity, and regeneration among different canopy types. OC forest showed greater plant diversity than CC forest. Firewood extraction pressure was remarkably greater in the LF near the major settlement than in the UF. Local conservation initiatives and the interventions of an ecotourism project have had visible impacts on firewood use by the community and on tourism enterprises. Although alarming, the rate of woody biomass extraction was nonetheless lower than the annual productivity rate of the stands. Participatory management and compliance by tourism enterprises with a code of conduct on alternative fuel use along the trekking corridor would help promote the conservation and maintenance of biodiversity.

Global Change and the World's Mountains— Research Needs and Emerging Themes for Sustainable Development

Abstract The conference on Global Change and the Worlds Mountains held in Perth, Scotland, in 2010 offered a unique opportunity to analyze the state and progress of mountain research and its contribution to sustainable mountain development, as well as to reflect on required reorientations of research agendas. In this paper we provide the results of a three-step assessment of the research presented by 450 researchers from around the world. First, we determined the state of the art of mountain research and categorized it based on the analytical structure of the Global Land Project (GLP 2005). Second, we identified emerging themes for future research. Finally, we assessed the contribution of mountain research to sustainable development along the lines of the Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability Research (International Council for Science 2010). Analysis revealed that despite the growing recognition of the importance of more integrative research (inter- and transdisciplinary), the research community gathered in Perth still focuses on environmental drivers of change and on interactions within ecological systems. Only a small percentage of current research seeks to enhance understanding of social systems and of interactions between social and ecological systems. From the ecological systems perspective, a greater effort is needed to disentangle and assess different drivers of change and to investigate impacts on the rendering of ecosystem services. From the social systems perspective, significant shortcomings remain in understanding the characteristics, trends, and impacts of human movements to, within, and out of mountain areas as a form of global change. Likewise, sociocultural drivers affecting collective behavior as well as incentive systems devised by policy and decision makers are little understood and require more in-depth investigation. Both the complexity of coupled social–ecological systems and incomplete data sets hinder integrated systems research. Increased understanding of linkages and feedbacks between social and ecological systems will help to identify nonlinearities and thresholds (tipping points) in both system types. This presupposes effective collaboration between ecological and social sciences. Reflections on the Grand Challenges in Sustainability Research put forth by the International Council for Science (2010) reveal the need to intensify research on effective responses and innovations. This will help to achieve sustainable development in mountain regions while maintaining the core competence of mountain research in forecasting and observation.

Mountain biodiversity conservation and management: a paradigm shift in policies and practices in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas.

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 people living in mountain areas, but for those living beyond. Mountains need specific attention for their contribution to global goods and services, especially by developing and implementing mountain specific policies. Conservation policies have evolved from the protection of charismatic species, to habitat and ecosystem/landscape conservation, and, finally, to people-oriented conservation approaches. This paper, with particular reference to paradigm shifts in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region, discusses the evolution of conservation policies, developments in conservation practices, the status of protected area management, wetland conservation initiatives and the landscape approach, community-based conservation initiatives, and the convergence of policies and practices. In the HKH region, conservation efforts now adopt participatory approaches, implement policies of decentralised governance for biodiversity management, and empower local communities in biodiversity management. The paradigm shift in the policies and practices related to conservation has been gradual and has included the acceptance of communities as an integral part of national level conservation initiatives, together with the integration of many global conventions. There are many successful pilots in the HKH region that deserve upscaling by the countries from the region. Realising the importance of mountains as hotspots of biodiversity, and due to their role as providers of global goods and services, the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Programme of Work on Mountain Biodiversity. Such a decision specific to mountains provides enormous opportunities for both conservation and development. Recent challenges posed by climate change need to be integrated into overall biodiversity conservation and management agendas, especially in mountain areas. The HKH region has been identified as a blank spot for data by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, indicating the need to develop regional database and sharing mechanisms. This is a tall task, but one that holds enormous opportunity for the HKH countries and institutions with regional mandates to address the emerging challenges of climate change on biodiversity conservation by reducing scientific uncertainty.

Developing Forested Conservation Corridors in the Kangchenjunga Landscape, Eastern Himalaya

Abstract The Kangchenjunga landscape in the trans-boundary region of Nepal, Bhutan, and India has rich forest resources offering a wide range of ecosystem services to local people and habitats for many rare plant and animal species. Despite conservation efforts in several fragmented protected areas in the past, forest ecosystems and their multiple functions have been affected by over-extraction of resources, haphazard land use practices, intensive agriculture, overgrazing, unmanaged tourism, and unplanned infrastructure development. We describe a multi-level and multi-stakeholder transboundary process initiated in 2002 with the overall objective of restoring fragmented and deteriorating forest resources through development of conservation corridors and adaptation of conservation measures, moving from a species approach to a landscape approach. In collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations, academics, and communities, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has been addressing the conservation issue by promoting participatory reforestation and transboundary collaboration, and linking conservation with sustainable use of resources by local communities.

Status of a protected area system in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas: An analysis of PA coverage

Multifaceted patterns of protected area (PA) expansion are reviewed considering: i) the increase in PA number and coverage; ii) distribution and extent of important bird areas (IBAs); and iii) distribution and coverage of global biodiversity hotspots and the Global 200 Ecoregions that fall within the Hindu Kush-Himalayas (HKH). The analysis revealed that biodiversity conservation is a priority for the eight regional member countries of the HKH, who have established 488 PAs over the last 89 years (1918 to 2007). The eight countries sharing the HKH have committed 39% of this total geographical area to the PA network and 11% to IBAs, which is quite significant when compared to the global target of 10%. There has been an increasing trend in PA establishment over the last four decades. The PA coverage within the HKH of China alone is significant (35.5%), followed by India (1.46%) and Nepal (0.58%). When IUCN management categories are considered, the majority of PAs belong to Category V (39%), followed by Category IV (29%). Only 0.6% of PAs are managed as Category I, and, in recent years, Categories V and VI have increased. Of the total HKH geographical area, 32% is covered by four global biodiversity hotspots and 62% by the Global 200 Ecoregions. However, only 25% of the global biodiversity hotspots and 40% of the Global 200 Ecoregions are part of the PA network. There are still numerous gaps in conservation in the HKH. Coordinated and committed efforts are required to bring other critical habitats within the PA network in the HKH.

The Relationship Between Bird Communities and Habitat A Study Along a Trekking Corridor in the Sikkim Himalaya

Abstract To assess the impact of habitat disturbance on birds in the Yuksom–Dzongri trekking corridor in western Sikkim, India, the relationships between bird community attributes—including migratory groups and feeding guilds—and vegetation variables were examined. Birds were observed in 19 100-m-long transects, 3 times per season per transect, for 2 seasons from 1997 to 1998 and 1998 to 1999, in an area where forests are subject to various degrees of pressure from human disturbances. Closed canopy forests with relatively undisturbed habitat showed significant variation in habitat attributes, suggesting complexity of habitat structure. Bird species richness and diversity were significantly related to moderately disturbed habitats represented by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), where vegetation heterogeneity (vertical stratification and species composition) was greater. Analysis by migratory groups did not show an interpretable relationship with the habitats, except for the seasonal movements of migratory groups when correlated with altitudinal gradient along the corridor. However, feeding guilds showed significant relationships when correlated with different habitat types. Guilds such as insectivores showed a significant positive relationship with relatively undisturbed habitat, whereas nectarivores and granivores were associated with disturbed habitat. Such relationships have the potential to help assess bird communities and their habitat preferences. Long-term monitoring at landscape level is necessary to understand the dynamics of habitat use patterns by bird communities in relation to spatial and temporal changes.

ICIMOD's Transboundary Biodiversity Management Initiative in the Hindu Kush–Himalayas

Together with its partners and regional member countries, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is committed to a shared vision of prosperous and secure mountain communities committed to peace, equity, and environmental sustainability. This vision statement defines ICIMOD’s overall goal: secure and sustainable livelihoods for mountain peoples. Building on achievements, competencies, and lessons that the Centre and its partners have learned over the two preceding decades, ICIMOD’s contribution is based on its role as a regional “Mountain Learning and Knowledge Centre.” ICIMOD is mandated to work in the Hindu Kush–Himalayan (HKH) region, including the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. ICIMOD’s mission is to develop and provide integrated and innovative solutions—in cooperation with national, regional, and international partners—which foster action and change to overcome mountain peoples’ economic, social, and physical vulnerability. Solutions are found by identifying, testing, and disseminating options. This mission is translated into outcomes by analyzing the causes of poverty and vulnerability in the mountains. These differ in significant ways from those found in the plains surrounding the HKH. They are also based on experience with mountain development to date, especially in the areas of greatest opportunity for achieving measurable impact. In overall congruence with the relevant portion of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit Declaration, ICIMOD’s strategy has identified 5 long-term outcomes that it is committed to help achieve. These are: 1. Productive and sustainable community-based management of vulnerable mountain natural resources; 2. Decreased physical vulnerability within watershed and regional river basins; 3. Improved and diversified incomes for vulnerable rural and marginalized mountain peoples; 4. Increased regional and local conservation of mountain biological and cultural heritages; and 5. Greater voice, influence, social security, and equity for mountain people.

Sustainable Mountain Development Revisited

Mountains occupy 24% of the global land surface area and are home to 12% of the world’s population. About 10% of the world’s population depends directly on the use of mountain resources for their livelihoods and wellbeing, and an estimated 40% depends indirectly on them for water, hydroelectricity, timber, biodiversity and niche products, mineral resources, recreation, and flood control (Schild 2008). Despite their important contribution, mountains are still marginalized in the development agenda. Although the importance of ecosystem services arising from mountains is recognized, approaches to economic valuation of services and payment mechanisms in mountain areas, which are needed to comprehend and realize the benefits, have not yet been greatly developed (Rasul et al 2011). The Hindu Kush–Himalaya (HKH) range spans more than 4.3 million km. It is often referred to as the ‘‘third pole’’ and ‘‘water tower of Asia,’’ regulating the flow of 10 major river systems. The region is home to many diverse ethnic communities that speak about 1000 languages and dialects and have enormous socioeconomic and cultural diversities. It is endowed with a variety of farming practices and rich natural resources, including global biodiversity hotspots that form the source of ecosystems directly servicing more than 200 million people living in the HKH and indirectly servicing 1.3 billion people living in the downstream areas. Moreover, countries totaling a population of 3 billion people benefit from food and energy produced in the HKH river basins (Schild 2008). Ecosystems are capital assets that provide a range of services. These include supporting services that maintain the conditions for life; provisioning services that provide direct inputs into livelihoods and the economy; regulating services that provide, among other things, flood and disease control; cultural services that provide opportunities for recreational, spiritual, or historical sites; and supporting services that sustain and fulfill human life (MA 2005). Increasing demands on ecosystem goods and services are putting more pressure on natural resources. Climate change has emerged as a most prominent force of global change; however, it is embedded in a matrix of drivers, including globalization, population growth, and local land use cover change. Climate change is the product of globalization, and mitigation implies global norms and measures. Mountain systems prove highly fragile and particularly sensitive to climate change. Mountains contribute only in a modest way to the production of greenhouse gases but are particularly affected. Adapting to climate change calls for specific and tailor-made measures (Schild 2008). This paper revisits the mountain agenda. The basic hypothesis is that the challenges of today should encourage us to particularly include socioeconomic, demographic, and ecological factors. For the first time in 20 years, the climate change and green economy debates have created the possibility of mainstreaming sustainable mountain development in the international development agenda.

Energy efficiency of large cardamom grown under Himalayan alder and natural forest

Energy efficiency of agroforestry systems of large cardamom grown under N2-fixing Himalayan alder (alder-cardamom) and natural forest (forest-cardamom) was studied in the Sikkim Himalaya. Large cardamom (Amomum subulatum), the most important perennial cash crop of the region, is widely cultivated with Himalayan alder (Alnus nepalensis) as shade tree. Energy fixation, storage, net allocation in agronomic yield, and heat release and exit from the system were respectively 1.57, 1.44, 2.24 and 2.22 times higher in the alder-cardamom compared to the forest-cardamom system. Energy conversion efficiency and net ecosystem energy increment were also higher in the alder-cardamom than the forest-cardamom system. Energy fixation efficiency and energy conversion efficiency of large cardamom increased under the influence of Himalayan alder. Energy efficiency in N2-fixation of Himalayan alder was also high (67.5 g N2 fixed 104 kJ-1 energy). Quantum and flux of energy increased in the alder-cardamom compared to the forest-cardamom system that optimized the production potential of the cash crop under the influence of the Himalayan alder. Climatic sympatry of the large cardamom and Himalayan alder, and their synergetic energy efficiency makes this association ecologically and economically viable for the mountain regions.

Assessment of natural resources use patterns: a case study along a trekking corridor of Sikkim Himalaya, India

In the Himalayas, subsistence largely depends upon resources derived from natural forests due to the free and easy access to these and simplicity in their use. Sikkim has 43% of its total geographical area under forest cover, of which 34% is under dense forests. The burgeoning human population and family fragmentations are exerting a tremendous pressure on the natural resources to meet the requirements of food, fuel, fodder, timber, and other human needs. In recent years, tourism has increased manifolds in Sikkim, which has been one of the major factors behind destruction of forests. Irrational use of natural resources has resulted in the lowering of forest quality and shortage of resources. As a result, people have started using less-valued species as firewood and fodder. This study deals with bioresources use pattern by the community and tourism enterprises along a trekking corridor in the Sikkim Himalaya, with special reference to firewood, fodder, and timber.