Environmental Change and Biodiversity: Uttarakhand Experiences

In India, as it is around the world, unprecedented loss and changes in biodiversity are taking place at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels, for both terrestrial and marine organisms. One of the major concerns of biodiversity loss is the reduction in the capacity of natural and managed ecosystems to render quality ecological services, such as the production of food, carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and other environmental changes. The extraction of biomass resources, such as trees, has now crossed this limit in many resource-rich areas. Both habitat conversion and destruction are eliminating species at such a rapid pace that extinction is leading to an imbalance of ecosystems. Biodiversity loss needs to be minimized in order to keep ecosystems functional. Therefore, assessing the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss and environmental changes, and establishing the bases for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, are the major scientific challenges of our time. It is against this backdrop that the present study was carried out with a multidisciplinary approach to answer the following questions: What are the spatial patterns of environmental change and biodiversity loss? What are the driving forces across the world, and, particularly, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand? What are the linkages between land use/cover change, landslides, and biodiversity loss? To what extent can community participation help for conservation of biodiversity? This book contributes to India's efforts in fulfilling the goals of the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE), the Kyoto Protocol, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).