Chapter 11 - Ecosystem services of the Indian Himalayan Region in a changing environment: an overview

Abstract

The changing climate continuously transforms biodiversity and ecosystem services. The Himalayas, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, provide a diverse range of ecosystem services to billions of people. The present study evaluated and synthesized the effect of climate change on the ecosystem services provided by the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). Literature survey exhibited that India is adversely affected by climate change, with an increase in temperature of 0.28–0.80°C and 0.20–1.00°C each decade for the Western and Eastern Himalayas, respectively. Moreover, glacier melting is also reported in both regions of the Himalayas. The majority of the Indian population depends directly or indirectly on ecosystem services provided by IHR. Climate change affects IHR by impacting food and feed production, water-related services, management of natural disasters, cultural values, esthetics, recreation, and ecotourism. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have commanded the governments to integrate the ecosystem services information into their development and climate adaptation policies to establish a green economy for sustainable natural resources. However, this seems to be a significant challenge under the current scenario. This chapter discusses the current and future effects of climate change on IHR's ecosystem services, how the assessment of ecosystem services can help conserve the nature and natural resources of the region, and some policies for sustaining and promoting ecosystem services in IHR. Based on literature analyses, we suggest that quantification and spatial mapping of ecosystem services in IHR should be encouraged in a changing environment.