Hindu Kush Himalaya is a ‘biosphere on the brink’: ICIMOD
- February 7, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
Hindu Kush Himalaya is a ‘biosphere on the brink’: ICIMOD
Subject: Environment
Section: Protected Area
Context:
- Experts from The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have urgently called for significant actions and immediate funding to prevent the deterioration of nature in High Mountain Asia, during a meeting on February 5, 2024, in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Details:
- Highlighting the critical state of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, known for its rich biodiversity, ICIMOD warned that this area is on the verge of ecological collapse as global experts gather for the Third Lead Authors meeting of the IPBES nexus assessment.
- This meeting, hosted by ICIMOD, focuses on understanding the connections between food, water security, health, biodiversity, and climate change.
- The dire situation in the HKH is described as catastrophic due to rapid losses in nature and habitat.
- The region, home to four of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots, significant eco-regions, protected areas, and bird habitats, has seen a 70% loss in its original biodiversity over the last century.
- Despite this, the local mountain communities, which are highly dependent on this biodiversity for sustenance, water, flood control, and cultural identity, are facing an accelerating crisis.
Biodiversity of HKH region:
- The mountain ecosystems of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) are diverse with one of the highest diversity of flora and fauna providing varied ecosystem services to one fourth of humanity. With four out of 36 global biodiversity hotspots the HKH is a cradle for 35,000+ species of plants and 200+ species of animals.
- At least 353 new species—242 plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, two birds, and two mammals, and at least 61 invertebrates—have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas between 1998 and 2008, equating to an average of 35 new species finds every year.
- The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region is of global importance due to its unique biodiversity and is home to 4 of 34 global biodiversity hotspots, 6 UNESCO natural World Heritage sites, 30 Ramsar sites, 330 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and 53 Important Plant Areas (IPAs).
- In total, there are 60 ecoregion types (6 per cent of the world total), of which 30 are critical ecoregions.
- HKH countries have established roughly 488 protected areas in the region with varying degrees of protection and status, covering 39 per cent of HKH terrestrial land.
Significance of Hindukush- Himalaya region (HKH):
- The biodiversity of the region — 40 per cent of which is under protected areas — is dependent on the cryosphere as it is an important source of water for maintaining ecosystem health, supporting biological diversity, and providing ecosystem services.
- Glaciers occupy an area of approximately 73,173 square kilometres (km2) in the HKH.
- The average temperature in the region has increased by 0.28°C per decade between 1951 and 2020.
- The HKH region harbours the highest mountain ranges in the world. It also contains the largest volume of ice on earth outside of the polar areas and is called “Asia’s water tower”.
- The region is undergoing “unprecedented and largely irreversible” changes triggered by global warming.
- Ice and snow in the Hindu Kush Himalaya are an important source of water for 12 rivers that flow through 16 countries in Asia, providing fresh water and other vital ecosystem services to 240 million people in the mountains and a further 1.65 billion downstream.
Water tower:
- High Mountain Asia comprises of mountain ranges such as the Tian Shan, Kunlun Shan, Pamir, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas.
- HKH, which stretches 3,500 kilometres and spans eight countries, is home to most of the snow and ice on Earth outside the poles. At least 12 rivers fan out in every direction across the Asian continent from it:
- Syr Darya and Amu Darya towards the now-dead Aral Sea
- The Tarim toward the Taklamakan
- The Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra towards the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal
- The Yellow River towards the Gulf of Bohai
- The Yangtze towards the East China Sea
- The Mekong towards the South China Sea
- The Chindwin, Salween and Irrawaddy towards the Andaman Sea
- The ‘Water Tower of Asia’ provides essential ecosystem services such as clean water for a third of the world’s population. It is estimated to be warming at nearly two times the average rate of warming in the Northern Hemisphere.
Nexus Assessment: Thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health.
- The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Plenary, at IPBES 7 (2019, Paris), adopted a new work programme following up on the first IPBES work programme 2014-2018.
- This new work programme includes a thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health (nexus assessment), which will examine the interlinkages among the sustainable development goals related to food and water security, health for all, protecting biodiversity on land and in the oceans and combating climate change.
About ICIMOD:
- Founded in 5 December 1983.
- The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is an intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre working on behalf of the people of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH).
- We are based in Kathmandu, Nepal and work in and for our eight regional member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
- They work to improve the lives and livelihoods of men, women, and children of the HKH and protect mountain environments and cultures.
- Activities:
- Their activities range greatly from hands-on research and piloting of solutions, to policy implementation with governments, to mountain advocacy on the global stage.
Source: DTE