Abstract
Mountains host high biological and cultural diversity, generating ecosystem services beneficial over multiple geographical scales but suffering significant vulnerabilities. A case study in Lileng village (Arunachal Pradesh, Indian north-east Himalayas) explored linkages between a community with protected tribal rights and the forest and river ecosystems within which they are situated. Evidence was gathered through interviews and literature review about ecosystem service benefits, using the Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Services approach. Subsequent analysis using the social, technological, environmental, economic, political framework found close, synergistic relationships between local people and the ecosystems for which they have protected tribal rights. Authoritative local governance arrangements prioritise community subsistence needs, limiting the influence of external state government and private actors on natural resource exploitation. Further sustainable economic development could stem from recognition of the value of ecosystem services produced by intact and functional habitats, and the potential for development of ‘payment for ecosystem services’ markets in addition to ecotourism and cultural tourism. Low food sufficiency and poverty observed in a previous study conducted in Uttarakhand state of the central Indian Middle Himalayas, principal drivers of out-migration and gender/age inequalities, were not evident in Lileng or surrounding areas, apparently linked to tribal rights and authoritative local governance in Arunachal Pradesh leading to greater resource security. Better understanding of ecosystem–community relationships in areas with protected tribal rights can highlight sustainable policies and practices that may be translated into wider geo-political areas, especially in the wake of projected climate change stresses.
Highlights
Mountains cover 24% of global land surface (UNEP-WCMC 2002), providing multiple ecosystem services significantly including climate regulation at local and global scales (ICIMOD 2010)
Much of the income remitted by migrants back to their mountain villages flowed back out of the Himalayan region to purchase food produced from the Gangetic plain, threatening village economic viability and placing asymmetric pressures on resident female, elderly and young people
The Himalayan landscape could potentially represent an economic asset if institutional development focused on sustainable bioprospecting, ecotourism and payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes for water supply and climate regulation services
Summary
Mountains cover 24% of global land surface (UNEP-WCMC 2002), providing multiple ecosystem services significantly including climate regulation at local and global scales (ICIMOD 2010). They support approximately one-quarter of terrestrial species and almost half of the world’s 34 biodiversity ‘hot spots’ (Körner 2009; CBD 2010, 2011; RSPN 2015). The two case studies presented by Everard et al (2019a) demonstrated that despite their high biological and cultural diversity and wealth of ecosystem services, providing benefits over multiple scales, the selected communities in Uttarakhand experience significant poverty with low food local availability, decreasing self-sufficiency and increasing dependency on income and food provision from beyond the mountains. The current situation is one of socio-economic decline as people fail to support their livelihoods from the diverse mountain ecosystems they inhabit
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