Eastern Himalayas:Environmental Perspectives

Bharat Bhushan

Professor, Environmental Planning

YASHADA, Pune

Ancient and sacred lands

• The Himalayas are known and venerated as ancient and sacred lands from the Kabul to the Mekong

• More than 25% of the World’s waters arise from the Himalayas

• Nearly 18% of the World’s waters travel from Tibet to other parts of the World

• Sikkim is a valuable gateway to history

Mallinathan temple, Arunachal

• An ancient temple, dedicated to Shiva, Parvati, Krishna and Rukmini has been recently discovered in remote Arunachal.

• Location – Likabali, West Siang District.

• Places several convergence perspectives of religions in these remote regions of the Eastern Himalayas.

• Structures – 14th Century and much older

Roing, Arunachal

• Roing is near Anini, Lower Dibang valley

• Mehao wildlife sanctuary – home to many endangered species, including Hoolock

• An ancient 3000 year old fort has been uncovered inside these forests

• The Bhismaknagar Fort, at 3000 msl, could perhaps be India’s highest fort.

• Hunli, cave temples, are near the fort

Ancient people with new problems

• Local communities in the Eastern Himalayas are some of the most ancient

• Land-locked, their problems are their own.

• What is not seen is not known. What is not known, cannot be faced without help.

• Glaciers, climate change, deforestation, floods, landslides, women’s empowerment and community lands are major issues

Face in the mirror

Sikkim today faces the same problems as other regions in the Eastern Himalayas.

It would be a good idea to learn from success and failures in these regions and create sustainability.

Regional cooperation models

The nations of Bhutan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh have agreed to cooperate on common environmental issues.

• Climate change, energy, water, food and biodiversiy

Has the paradise been lost?• The land is fragile. Eastern Himalayas are an ecosystem that is extremely threatened.

• Climate change has a major impact in this region. The melting mountain glaciers have changed the habitat.

• Deforestation, over-harvesting of timber and fuelwood, intensive grazing on Himalayan meadows and steep slopes have destroyed the forest and fodder cover.

• Expanding agriculture, change in cropping practices and failure to understand local water regimes have threatened sustainability of the local natural resources for the very people who harvest the lands.

• Poaching is a major threat to wildlife and endangered species.

Water – is the major product

• Unfortunately, water is seen as the major product of the Eastern Himalayas for various reasons – including hydro-power

• Some of India’s largest hydro-power projects are to be established in this area

• The scale of destruction has never been seen in the Eastern Himalayas, and no one can even predict the outcome

Chungthang

Need for a new mission

The World Wide Fund for Nature – Eastern Himalayas has proposed a new mission for the region – for policy, administration and action

Establish a sustainable relationship between people and the environment to ensure a future that includes health, wildlife populations, plentiful natural resources and lasting change for local livelihoods.

Threats to the forests and people

• These are temperate forests, savannas and grasslands unlike the subcontinent

• Firewood, food and timber harvesting for local people can be sustainable, but with impact of industries, tourism and export, the unsustainable levels are dangerous.

• Social impact will lead to poverty and migration to cities and to lowlands.

Resource and human impact

• Conversion of forests to agriculture

• Charcoal production in low elevation areas

• Intensive grazing at higher elevations

• Impact on women for collecting firewood, fodder, water and grazing cattle

• Easier to allow common cattle-herds to graze inside forest areas. Has led to loss of regeneration values of the forests.

Protecting biodiversity: Bhutan

• Bhutan Biological Conservation Complex – largest conservation landscape – connecting biological corridors and protecting a continuous ecosystem area

• 4 National Parks, 4 WL Sanctuaries, but with 12 biological corridors, covering more than 3.6 million acres – nearly 35% of the country’s total geographical area

Conserving the landscape: Bhutan

• Raising technical capacity of local people• Community-based conservation projects• Restore critical wildlife habitats• Reduce incidents of human-animal conflict• Restoration and community management• Use of alternate energy projects• Assistance in sustainable use of land and

forest resources

Beliefs and ethics: Bhutan

• Sacred Himalayan Landscape Initiative

• Leverage spiritual beliefs

• Strengthen conservation ethics of local communities and transfer of technology

• Restore essential habitats through local stakeholders participation in projects

• Focus on literacy and sustainable income-generation skills, especially in women

Kangchenjunga – Nepal

• World’s third highest mountain has been handed over to local communities

• On September 22, 2006 – to a coalition of local communities – Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council

• Equitable sharing of benefits, conserve endangered wildlife species, informal education and income generating projects

With gratitude to all the photographs and their

photographers sourced from the internet for non-profit use

These photographs are not mine. They have not been used for any profit

purpose but only for dissemination of knowledge of this particular topic.