This open access book is a consolidation of lessons learnt and experiences gathered from our efforts to utilise Earth observation (EO) science and applications to address environmental challenges in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. It includes a complete package of knowledge on service life cycles including multi-disciplinary topics and practically tested applications for the HKH. It comprises 19 chapters drawing from a decade’s worth of experience gleaned over the course of our implementation of SERVIR-HKH – a joint initiative of NASA, USAID, and ICIMOD – to build capacity on using EO and geospatial technology for effective decision making in the region.

The book highlights SERVIR’s approaches to the design and delivery of information services – in agriculture and food security; land cover and land use change, and ecosystems; water resources and hydro-climatic disasters; and weather and climate services. It also touches upon multidisciplinary topics such as service planning; gender integration; user engagement; capacity building; communication; and monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

We hope that this book will be a good reference document for professionals and practitioners working in remote sensing, geographic information systems, regional and spatial sciences, climate change, ecosystems, and environmental analysis. Furthermore, we are hopeful that policymakers, academics, and other informed audiences working in sustainable development and evaluation – beyond the wider SERVIR network and well as within it – will greatly benefit from what we share here on our applications, case studies, and documentation across cross-cutting topics. 

We conducted a systematic review on the research on mammals in the Far Eastern Himalaya Landscape using the SALSA approach, with a focus on opportunities for cross-border collaboration among India, Myanmar and China. A total of 124 literatures from 1962 to 2021 were identified and reviewed. Over the decades, there has been a steady increase in research and publications on the subject and their thematic focuses have been on inventory, distribution, conservation, behaviour, taxonomy and discovery of new species. There are more inter-region than intra-region collaborations in the researches with contributions from 408 authors from 30 countries. The review recorded a total of 240 mammal species in the landscape belonging to 11 orders, 36 families, and 123 genera. Sixty-one species were common to all three countries while eighteen to twenty two species have cross-border distribution between the two countries. At least eleven new mammal species unknown to science have been discovered from the region in recent decades out of which eight are endemic to the region. There is a clear comparative data deficit in Myanmar as well as areas outside the existing protected area of the landscape. Mammals in the landscape are facing multiple anthropogenic threats such as illegal hunting, wildlife trade, and habitat loss and fragmentation. According to the IUCN Red List, 19.6% (n = 47) of the total species recorded in the landscape are threatened with extinction, including five Critically Endangered, 19 Endangered and 23 Vulnerable species. We recommend strengthening joint research to address data deficit, improving regional or transboundary collaboration for conservation management, bridging the gaps of protected area network, and empowering local communities for effective mammal conservation in the landscape.