Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Services in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Abstract

With 22% global land surface area, the mountains ecosystem is home to 13%of the total human populations. Evolved as a unique ecosystem, the mountainadds value with diverse ecosystems; tradition and culture as well as ecosys-tem services for socio-economic development in the mountain areas andbeyond. As it caters half of the humanity with its diverse types of ecosystemservices, the realization of its significance are still limited in national, regionaland global discourses. In the conservation front, there has been a significantprogress in the concept and practices from species focussed interventions tohabitat and ecosystem/landscape conservation approaches. The Hindu KushHimalaya (HKH), known as the highest mountain ecosystems in the world isalso the water tower for the region often referred as the third pole. This uniqueecosystem is an important repository of biological and cultural diversities andsource of varied ecosystems services to 240 million people living within andabout a one third of global population living downstream. The region hasbeen in spotlight for being part of the 36 ‘Global Biodiversity Hotspot’ aswell as climate change hotspot. However, our understanding the dynamics ofchanging landscapes and climate and its linkage to people, mostly challengedby poverty are limited. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Devel-opment (ICIMOD), an inter-governmental regional knowledge and enabling centre, has been instrumental in developing knowledge about the dynam-ics of these fragile ecosystems and support its regional member countriesthrough science based integrated approaches. Since its inception, ICIMODhas been engaged in developing knowledge and supporting policies for moun-tain development focusing on socio-economic, ecological and environmentaldimensions. In this paper, we present the retrospect of our understandingand learnings in the HKH through transboundary landscape managementand regional cooperation mostly focused on conservation of biodiversity andecosystem services perspectives. The paper reflects on changing paradigmand complex process for strengthening regional cooperation in the HKH.