The Himalayan Ecosystem and Development Paradigm: A Sustainability Perspective

Title

The Himalayan Ecosystem and Development Paradigm: A Sustainability Perspective

Creator

Mishra A.

Description

The Himalaya is physically and biologically very complex and diverse. It is one of the youngest and loftiest of the mountain systems of the world. It is a biodiversity rich area having a distinctive climatic impact on lives of people in Asia. Major rivers of the region originate from the Himalayan Mountains providing the source of water for a large mass of population. Himalaya is a house to many crops of the world, natural wealth as well as indigenous societies and knowledge system. It is a rich repository of plant and animal wealth providing a source of livelihood to millions of people in the Asian region. Its significance lies in the fact that it has been recognised as among the 34 global biodiversity hotspots. Due to anthropogenic activitiesdriven by the economic development modellike mining, road construction, dam construction, tourism, infrastructure development et al. and climate change there has been wide spread damage to fragile Himalayan ecosystem. The consequences of such developmental activities has far reaching consequences on the future of Himalayan ecosystem altering the course of nature and impacting human lives and societies depending on Himalaya and hence unsustainable for the earth. It is predicted that the anthropogenic activities in and around Himalayas shall have significant consequences regionally and globally raising questions about natural resources, ecology, sustainability, loss of habitat by species, human rights, livelihood of people in the region. The present model of development solely premised on the anthropocentricism has caused enormous harm to Himalayan ecology. It has ignored the traditional conservation model adopted by traditional inhabitants bringing great destruction to the Himalaya which has global implications. In the light of the above this chapter will discuss the consequences of anthropogenic activities on the Himalayan ecosystem. Moreover, it will explore the sustainability of anthropogenic activities and how that can be helpful to the planet. Moreover, it will offer few suggestions for the improvement of the Himalayan ecosystem which will be advantageous to the present as well as future generations. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.

Source

Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research, Vol-Part F3746, pp. 249-264.

Date

2024-01-01

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media B.V.

Subject

Development; Ecosystem; Himalaya; Livelihood; Mountains; Sustainability

Coverage

Mishra A., Christ University, Bangalore, India

Rights

Restricted Access

Relation

ISSN: 18797180

Format

Online

Language

English

Type

Book chapter

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56858-9_11

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