Changes in Indian Himalayan Region: Impact on Forest Ecosystems and Implications for REDD+

Abstract

There has been a rising global awareness about the importance of world’s mountain areas as mountains offer diverse goods and services to well over half of the earth’s 7 billion people. Mountains and mountain areas are susceptible in nature as some of the most visible indicators of climate change come from mountain areas e.g. widespread retread of glaciers have been observed from the mountain areas across the globe. The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), a mountain chain along the northern border of India with its diversity of ecosystems has unique and special significance for India. During the last decades, globalization, climate change, and population growth have impacted the forest ecosystems of IHR. Although, there is a net gain (2.10%) of forest cover in IHR during the decade (2001 - 2011), but all the states of IHR did not gain in forest cover during the period. Moreover, changes within the forests, such as changes of undisturbed primary forests into secondary forests are difficult to assess. The overall forest cover of 41.55% of the total geographical area of IHR is way behind the target set by the National Forest Policy of 1988 (Anon; 1988). Protection of Himalayan forests is possible only if the ever growing inhabitants of the IHR are properly compensated for protection of these valuable national resources. Successful implementation of Sustainable Forest Management through the global initiatives like ‘reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries’ (REDD+) at sub-national level is an opportunity to protect the IHR for the national interest.