HINDU KUSH HIMALAYA REGION – GEOGRAPHY
News: ICIMOD
report rings warning bells for rivers of East, Northeast India
What's in the news?
● The
International Centre for Integrated
Mountain Development (ICIMOD) released the Water, Ice, Society, and
Ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HI-WISE)
report.
Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region:
● It
is a vast area, encompassing mountain ranges stretching from the Hindu Kush
range in northern Afghanistan to the Arakan range in Myanmar, with the Himalayan
range as its spine, and also includes the Tibetan Plateau.
● The
region harbours the highest mountain ranges in the world and contains the
largest volume of ice on earth outside of the polar areas and is called “Asia’s water tower”.
● Ice
and snow in the HKH are important sources of water for 12 rivers that flow through 16 countries in Asia.
● These
rivers provide freshwater and other vital ecosystem services to 240 million
people in the mountains and a further 1.65 billion downstream.
● The
region is undergoing “unprecedented and
largely irreversible” changes triggered by global warming.
Significance:
1. Socioeconomic and cultural diversity:
● It
is home to many different ethnic communities speaking more than 600 languages
and many more dialects.
2. Ecology:
● It
is endowed with rich natural resources and contains all or part of four global
biodiversity hotspots.
● These
include Himalaya Hotspot, Indo-Burma Hotspot, Mountains of Southwest China and
Mountains of Central Asia.
3. Local Economy:
● The
mountain resources provide a wide range of ecosystem services and the basis for
the livelihoods of the people living in the region.
4. Originating Rivers:
● Many
people benefit from the food and energy produced in these river basins that
have their origin in the mountains.
Findings of the Report:
● Many
areas around the world have passed “peak
water” and communities are dealing with less glacier meltwater.
● For
the HKH, the peak point has not been reached yet, but it is coming soon.
● As
Himalayan glaciers melt due to climate change, water availability in the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra is set to
increase (through 2050) in the short term and decrease in the long term (~80%
by 2100).
● The
Eastern/ lesser Himalayas have fewer glaciers compared to their western
counterparts. Hence, rivers in the region get less contribution from glaciers
and are less likely to be affected overall.
● Climate change is
severely affecting
biodiversity in HKH. For example, the habitat of Himalayan ibex is likely
to reduce by 33 to 64%.
Concerns:
● The
glaciers act as a savings bank account/ buffer in the hydrological cycle.
However, the HKH has seen a 65% faster
loss of glacier mass.
● There
is a chance for more floods and
landslides and a loss of savings during the dry years.
● Decreasing snow cover
could dry up springs, which is bad for
agriculture and will jeopardise the livelihoods of 129 million farmers in the
Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra basins.
● This
will make adaptation even harder, as people and ecosystems need to adapt not
only to decreasing snow cover but also to decreasing meltwater.
● Institutions
aren’t equipped to handle the new dangers and fail to take climate change
threats into account.
● Governments
have played a limited role in helping mountain communities of the HKH adapt to
climate change.
Impacts of climate change on Hindu Kush Himalayan
region:
1. Survival of flora:
● The
timing of leaf-fall and fruiting has altered.
● This
has led to a decrease in the survival of
plants and threatened the vulnerability of species.
● Advanced
and delayed flowering of Himalayan rhododendron has been observed in Nepal and
nearby HKH region.
2. Impact of snowfall on flora:
● The
change in snowfall patterns due to rise in temperatures has resulted in the
shifting of the tree line as well.
● Many
plant species have shifted upwards at the rate of 11 to 54 meters per decade in
the western Himalayan regions of India.
● About
90 percent of the endemic species in the Sikkim Himalayas have displaced at the
rate of 27.53 to 22.04 meters per decade.
● Many
species, found in the northwest Himalayas of eastern Ladakh, have moved upwards
by about 150 meters above the plant distribution limit.
3. Threat of invasive species:
● 5
percent of 26 invasive plant species will expand while 25 percent will
contract, thereby threatening biodiversity and food security while causing
heavy economic losses.
4. Impact on Fauna:
● Mammals,
insects, microbes, birds, amphibians and fishes are becoming extinct or are
experiencing genetic and behavioral changes.
● Himalayan
musk deer, golden snub-nosed monkeys and Himalayan grey langurs have already
experienced range shifts with declining populations.
WAY FORWARD:
1. Mountain-specific adaptation practices:
● As
adaptation in one place might end up being maladaptation in another, the RMCs
need to develop/ share a database on adaptation practices.
2. Generalized reports need to be replaced by specific
ones:
● It
would have been great if the report could have told which areas of the
Himalayas are expected to be affected and how much.
As
the mountain population and biodiversity of the region (40% of which is under
protected areas) are dependent on the cryosphere (the frozen water part of the
Earth system), urgent adaptation measures need to be adopted.