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Chaudhary, R. P.; Bhattarai, S. H.; Basnet, G.; Bhatta, K. P.; Uprety, Y.; Bhatta, L. D.; Kotru, R.; Oli, B. N.; Sharma, L. N.; Khanal, S.; Sharma, U. R.
The Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) is a transboundary landscape (area: 31,252 sq
.km) around Mount Kailash. KSL is exceptionally rich in cultural and ecological diversity and has its own traditional systems of resource use and management. KSL Nepal comprises approximately 42.5% of the total landscape area, and covers Baitadi, Darchula, Bajhang and Humla districts. This study was conducted in different representative villages of four districts of KSL Nepal with the aim of documenting the traditional practice and knowledge of the indigenous and local communities regarding natural resource use and management. Resources like agriculture, forest, pastureland and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have been managed by indigenous and local communities since time immemorial. People have been growing various crops depending on the location, climate and culture. Similarly, they decide the breed and number of livestock to be raised based on their access to pastureland, purpose, religious belief and location. Pasturelands are managed in two ways in KSL Nepal, either as open access or controlled access. Social institutions/communities decide the timing, duration, and area of grazing communally. Management structure of highland pasture is better regulated than that of lowland pasture. Forests in KSL Nepal are managed as government-managed forest, religious forest, community forest and leasehold forest. Local people develop rules and regulations to conserve the forest as a community forest and local authorities decide the time for collecting firewood and punish people involved in violating the rules. In some areas of KSL Nepal, forests are conserved as sacred forest where grazing and collection of timber, fodder, NTFPs, etc. are restricted. NTFPs have become major economic products in the region. The production of NTFPs is gradually decreasing due to unsustainable harvesting practices
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The Koshi river basin is a sub-basin of the Ganges shared among China, Nepal, and India
. The river system has a high potential for investment in hydropower development and for irrigation in downstream areas. The upper part of the basin contains a substantial reserve of freshwater in the form of snow and glaciers. Climate variability, climate change, and climate extremes might impact on these reserves, and in turn impact on systems that support livelihoods, such as agriculture, biodiversity and related ecosystem services. Climatological variability and trends over the Koshi river basin were studied using RClimDex. Daily temperature data (20 stations) and precipitation data (50 stations) from 1975 to 2010 were used in the analysis. The results show that the frequency and intensity of weather extremes are increasing. The daily maximum temperature (TXx) increased by 0.1?°C?decade-1 on average between 1975 and 2010 and the minimum (TNn) by 0.3?°C?decade-1. The number of warm nights increased at all stations. Most of the extreme temperature indices showed a consistently different pattern in the mountains than in the Indo-Gangetic plains, although not all results were statistically significant. The warm days (TX90p), warm nights (TN90p), warm spell duration (WSDI), and diurnal temperature range (DTR) increased at most of the mountain stations; whereas monthly maximum and minimum values of daily maximum temperature, TX90p, cool nights (TN10p), WSDI, cold spell duration indicator (CSDI), DTR decreased at the stations in the Indo-Gangetic plains, while the number of cold days increased. There was an increase in total annual rainfall and rainfall intensity, although no clear long-term linear trend, whereas the number of consecutive dry days increased at almost all stations. The results indicate that the risk of extreme climate events over the basin is increasing, which will increase people's vulnerability and has strong policy implications
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Physico-chemical parameters play a major role in determining the density, diversity and occurrence of phytoplankton in a headwater stream
. The present study was conducted to assess the relationship between physico-chemical parameters and phytoplankton assemblages of Baldi stream of Garhwal Himalayas, India. Results showed an increased concentration in physico-chemical parameters (turbidity, total dissolved solids, nitrates and phosphates) has an adverse impact on the density of phytoplankton during monsoon season at the sampling site S2, where maximum disturbances were recorded. Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient calculated between physico-chemical parameters and density of phytoplankton revealed that as sediment load increases in the stream, the growth of phytoplankton decreases. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) between environmental variables and dominant taxa of phytoplankton indicated the influence of physico-chemical parameters on phytoplankton distribution in freshwater ecosystem of Baldi stream of Garhwal Himalayas, India
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The Koshi river basin is a sub-basin of the Ganges shared among China, Nepal, and India
. The river system has a high potential for investment in hydropower development and for irrigation in downstream areas. The upper part of the basin contains a substantial reserve of freshwater in the form of snow and glaciers. Climate variability, climate change, and climate extremes might impact on these reserves, and in turn impact on systems that support livelihoods, such as agriculture, biodiversity and related ecosystem services. Climatological variability and trends over the Koshi river basin were studied using RClimDex. Daily temperature data (20 stations) and precipitation data (50 stations) from 1975 to 2010 were used in the analysis. The results show that the frequency and intensity of weather extremes are increasing. The daily maximum temperature (TXx) increased by 0.1 °C decade−1 on average between 1975 and 2010 and the minimum (TNn) by 0.3 °C decade−1. The number of warm nights increased at all stations. Most of the extreme temperature indices showed a consistently different pattern in the mountains than in the Indo-Gangetic plains, although not all results were statistically significant. The warm days (TX90p), warm nights (TN90p), warm spell duration (WSDI), and diurnal temperature range (DTR) increased at most of the mountain stations; whereas monthly maximum and minimum values of daily maximum temperature, TX90p, cool nights (TN10p), WSDI, cold spell duration indicator (CSDI), DTR decreased at the stations in the Indo-Gangetic plains, while the number of cold days increased. There was an increase in total annual rainfall and rainfall intensity, although no clear long-term linear trend, whereas the number of consecutive dry days increased at almost all stations. The results indicate that the risk of extreme climate events over the basin is increasing, which will increase people's vulnerability and has strong policy implications
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Although vital for millions of inhabitants, Himalayan water resources remain currently poorly known, mainly because of uncertainties on hydro-meteorological measurements
. In this study, the authors propose a new assessment of the water budget components of the Dudh Koshi River basin (3720km2, Eastern Nepal), taking into account the associated uncertainties. The water budget is studied through a cross analysis of field observations with the result of a daily hydrological conceptual distributed snow model. Both observed datasets of spatialized precipitations, interpolated with a co-kriging method, and of discharge, provided by the hydrological agency of Nepal, are completed by reanalysis data (NCEP/NCAR) for air temperature and potential evapotranspiration, as well as satellite snow products (MOD10A2) giving the dynamics of the snow cover area. According to the observation, the water budget on the basin is significantly unbalanced; it is attributed to a large underestimation of precipitation, typical of high mountain areas. By contrast, the water budget simulated by the modeling approach is well balanced; it is due to an unrealistic overestimation of the glacier melt volume. A reversing method led to assess the precipitation underestimation at around 80% of the annual amount. After the correction of the daily precipitation by this ratio, the simulated fluxes of rainfall, icemelt, and snowmelt gave 63%, 29%, and 8% of the annual discharge, respectively. This basin-wide precipitation correction is likely to change in respect to topographic or geographic parameters, or in respect to seasons, but due to an insufficient knowledge of the precipitation spatial variability, this could not be investigated here, although this may significantly change the respective proportions for rain, ice or snow melt. © 2015 Elsevier B.V
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Roy, P. S.; Behera, M. D.; Murthy, M. S. R.; Roy, A.; Singh, S.; Kushwaha, S. P. S.; Jha, C. S.; Sudhakar, S.; Joshi, P. K.; Reddy, C. S.; Gupta, S.; Pujar, G.; Dutt, C. B. S.; Srivastava, V. K.; Porwal, M. C.; Tripathi, P.; Singh, J. S.; Chitale, V.; Skidmore, A. K.; Rajshekhar, G.; Kushwaha, D.; Karnataka, H.; Saran, S.; Giriraj, A.; Padalia, H.; Kale, M.; Nandy, S.; Jeganathan, C.; Singh, C. P.; Biradar, C. M.; Pattanaik, C.; Singh, D. K.; Devagiri, G. M.; Talukdar, G.; Panigrahy, R. K.; Singh, H.; Sharma, J. R.; Haridasan, K.; Trivedi, S.; Singh, K. P.; Kannan, L.; Daniel, M.; Misra, M. K.; Niphadkar, M.; Nagbhatla, N.; Prasad, N.; Tripathi, O. P.; Prasad, P. R. C.; Dash, P.; Qureshi, Q.; Tripathi, S. K.; Ramesh, B. R.; Gowda, B.; Tomar, S.; Romshoo, S.; Giriraj, S.; Ravan, S. A.; Behera, S. K.; Paul, S.; Das, A. K.; Ranganath, B. K.; Singh, T. P.; Sahu, T. R.; Shankar, U.; Menon, A. R. R.; Srivastava, G.; Neeti; Sharma, S.; Mohapatra, U. B.; Peddi, A.; Rashid, H.; Salroo, I.; Krishna, P. H.; Hajra, P. K.; Vergheese, A. O.; Matin, S.; Chaudhary, S. A.; Ghosh, S.; Lakshmi, U.; Rawat, D.; Ambastha, K.; Kalpana, P.; Devi, B. S. S.; Gowda, B.; Sharma, K. C.; Mukharjee, P.; Sharma, A.; Davidar, P.; Raju, R. R. V.; Ketewa, S. S.; Kant, S.; Raju, V. S.; Uniyal, B. P.; Debnath, B.; Rout, D. K.; Thapa, R.; Joseph, S.; Chhetri, P.; Ramchandran, R.
A seamless vegetation type map of India (scale 1: 50,000) prepared using medium-resolution IRS LISS-III images is presented
. The map was created using an on-screen visual interpretation technique and has an accuracy of 90%, as assessed using 15,565 ground control points. India has hitherto been using potential vegetation/forest type map prepared by Champion and Seth in 1968. We characterized and mapped further the vegetation type distribution in the country in terms of occurrence and distribution, area occupancy, percentage of protected area (PA) covered by each vegetation type, range of elevation, mean annual temperature and precipitation over the past 100 years. A remote sensing-amenable hierarchical classification scheme that accommodates natural and semi-natural systems was conceptualized, and the natural vegetation was classified into forests, scrub/shrub lands and grasslands on the basis of extent of vegetation cover. We discuss the distribution and potential utility of the vegetation type map in a broad range of ecological, climatic and conservation applications from global, national and local perspectives. We used 15,565 ground control points to assess the accuracy of products available globally (i.e., GlobCover, Holdridge’s life zone map and potential natural vegetation (PNV) maps). Hence we recommend that the map prepared herein be used widely. This vegetation type map is the most comprehensive one developed for India so far. It was prepared using 23.5 m seasonal satellite remote sensing data, field samples and information relating to the biogeography, climate and soil. The digital map is now available through a web portal (Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Typ
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Roy, P. S.; Behera, M. D.; Murthy, M. S. R.; Roy, A.; Singh, S.; Kushwaha, S. P. S.; Jha, C. S.; Sudhakar, S.; Joshi, P. K.; Reddy, C. S.; Gupta, S.; Pujar, G.; Dutt, C. B. S.; Srivastava, V. K.; Porwal, M. C.; Tripathi, P.; Singh, J. S.; Chitale, V.; Skidmore, A. K.; Rajshekhar, G.; Kushwaha, D.; Karnataka, H.; Saran, S.; Giriraj, A.; Padalia, H.; Kale, M.; Nandy, S.; Jeganathan, C.; Singh, C. P.; Biradar, C. M.; Pattanaik, C.; Singh, D. K.; Devagiri, G. M.; Talukdar, G.; Panigrahy, R. K.; Singh, H.; Sharma, J. R.; Haridasan, K.; Trivedi, S.; Singh, K. P.; Kannan, L.; Daniel, M.; Misra, M. K.; Niphadkar, M.; Nagbhatla, N.; Prasad, N.; Tripathi, O. P.; Prasad, P. R. C.; Dash, P.; Qureshi, Q.; Tripathi, S. K.; Ramesh, B. R.; Gowda, B.; Tomar, S.; Romshoo, S.; Giriraj, S.; Ravan, S. A.; Behera, S. K.; Paul, S.; Das, A. K.; Ranganath, B. K.; Singh, T. P.; Sahu, T. R.; Shankar, U.; Menon, A. R. R.; Srivastava, G.; Neeti; Sharma, S.; Mohapatra, U. B.; Peddi, A.; Rashid, H.; Salroo, I.; Krishna, P. H.; Hajra, P. K.; Vergheese, A. O.; Matin, S.; Chaudhary, S. A.; Ghosh, S.; Lakshmi, U.; Rawat, D.; Ambastha, K.; Kalpana, P.; Devi, B. S. S.; Gowda, B.; Sharma, K. C.; Mukharjee, P.; Sharma, A.; Davidar, P.; Raju, R. R. V.; Ketewa, S. S.; Kant, S.; Raju, V. S.; Uniyal, B. P.; Debnath, B.; Rout, D. K.; Thapa, R.; Joseph, S.; Chhetri, P.; Ramchandran, R.
A seamless vegetation type map of India (scale 1: 50,000) prepared using medium-resolution IRS LISS-III images is presented
. The map was created using an on-screen visual interpretation technique and has an accuracy of 90%, as assessed using 15,565 ground control points. India has hitherto been using potential vegetation/forest type map prepared by Champion and Seth in 1968. We characterized and mapped further the vegetation type distribution in the country in terms of occurrence and distribution, area occupancy, percentage of protected area (PA) covered by each vegetation type, range of elevation, mean annual temperature and precipitation over the past 100 years. A remote sensing-amenable hierarchical classification scheme that accommodates natural and semi-natural systems was conceptualized, and the natural vegetation was classified into forests, scrub/shrub lands and grasslands on the basis of extent of vegetation cover. We discuss the distribution and potential utility of the vegetation type map in a broad range of ecological, climatic and conservation applications from global, national and local perspectives. We used 15,565 ground control points to assess the accuracy of products available globally (i.e., GlobCover, Holdridge’s life zone map and potential natural vegetation (PNV) maps). Hence we recommend that the map prepared herein be used widely. This vegetation type map is the most comprehensive one developed for India so far. It was prepared using 23.5 m seasonal satellite remote sensing data, field samples and information relating to the biogeography, climate and soil. The digital map is now available through a web portal (Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Typ
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An assessment was undertaken of the governance and related management effectiveness of four protected areas of the Kanchenjunga landscape shared by Bhutan, India and Nepal, using a simple site level tracking tool
. The study was further supported by focus group discussion, a survey of key informants and site visits. The management assessment revealed that protected areas are consistently weak in inputs such as number of staff, equipment, financial provision and infrastructure. The results indicate that management improvements are needed. Khangchendzonga biosphere reserve and Singhalila National Park in India scored 41.98 per cent and 32.44 per cent respectively. Slightly higher, Kanchenjunga Conservation Area of Nepal and Toorsa Strict Nature Reserve of Bhutan scored 67.59 per cent and 58.02 per cent respectively. Weak institutional capacity, depredation by wildlife, livestock grazing and illegal harvesting of resources were identified as threats. Limited participation of local people in decision making and protected area management were seen as major challenges. The findings support the recommendation that efforts should be made to move from a protectionist approach to a community-based conservation approach for conservation and sustainable use of biological resources in the landscape
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Beddington, J.; Asaduzzaman, M.; Clark, M.; Bremauntz, A.; Guillou, M.; Jahn, M.; Lin, E.; Mamo, T.; Negra, C.; Nobre, C.; Scholes, R.; Sharma, R.; Van Bo, N.; Wakhungu, J.
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Due to remoteness and high altitude, only a few ground-based glacier change studies are available in high-mountain areas in the Himalaya
. However, digital elevation models based on remotely sensed data (RS-DEMs) provide feasible opportunities to evaluate how fast Himalayan glaciers are changing. Here we compute elevation changes in glacier surface (total area 183.3km2) in the Khumbu region, Nepal Himalaya, for the period 1992–2008 using multitemporal RS-DEMs and a map-derived DEM calibrated with differential GPS survey data in 2007. Elevation change is calculated by generating a weighted least-squares linear regression model. Our method enables us to provide the distribution of uncertainty of the elevation change. Debris-covered areas show large lowering rates. The spatial distribution of elevation change shows that the different wastage features of the debris-covered glaciers depend on their scale, slope and the existence of glacial lakes. The elevation changes of glaciers in the eastern Khumbu region are in line with previous studies. The regional average mass balance of –0.40 0.25mw.e. a–1 for the period 1992–2008 is consistent with a global value of about –0.55mw.e. a–1 for the period 1996–2005
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