Climate Change Issues and Challenges in the Western Himalaya:Its Impact on the Plant-diversity, Livelihood and Mitigation Strategies

Abstract

Indian Western Himalaya has a rich plant diversity/ bio-resources due to the large variations in the altitude (300 to 6000 ms) and climatic conditions from tropical, temperate to alpine. The paper sheds light on the issues and challenges of climate change in the Western Himalaya; its impact on the plant diversity (wild plants, crops, fruits); loss of plant diversity and livelihood of the local communities; impact on the phenology of plant species; possible mitigation strategies to combat the impact of climate change. The Western Himalayan region has a rich diversity of plant diversity or bio resources. These bio resources (wild plants, crops, fruits) have been used by the local communities in the form of traditional medicines and foods from pre-historic periods or since the settlement of human communities in this region. These communities used these bio-resources as a source of income by their cultivation and selling in the markets. They are also involved in the traditional agriculture and horticulture practices and for that dependent on the climatic conditions (rate of precipitation, temperature, humidity) throughout the year. Hence stable environment conditions a pre requisite for better production and productivity. But in the last 100 years an increased in the temperature on earth brought large variation in the climate of Himalayan region too. The extreme climatic conditions will make Himalayan ecosystem more fragile, less productive and more prone towards disasters or natural calamities. Long term planning is required to understand the impact of climate change in the Western Himalaya along with some new strategies to mitigate its impact.