Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Climate Change Mitigation and Pastoral Livelihood in the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region: Research Focuses, Opportunities and Challenges

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Carbon Management for Promoting Local Livelihood in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) Region

Abstract

The authoritative global climate report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urged each country to take action on climate change mitigation. The vast HKH region should make a more consistent and concise evaluation that can augment the global level evaluation. In this chapter, the whole HKH’s carbon emission were described and some advice about increasing carbon sink were given. This chapter sets out to: (1) clarify our understanding about the HKH region’s natural resources, ecological functions, social economy and livelihood of its peoples; (2) promote understanding and cognition of carbon dynamics and its driving forces that could better equip HKH’s governments and people to mitigate and adapt to future climate change; and (3) encourage anti-poverty assistance be involved in the carbon trade in the world platform for HKH sustainable development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Asif, M. 2009. Sustainable energy options for Pakistan. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 13 (4): 903–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennetzen, E.H., P. Smith, and J.R. Porter. 2016. Agricultural production and greenhouse gas emissions from world regions-The major trends over 40 years. Global Environmental Change 37: 43–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boden, T.A., G. Marland, and R.J. Andres. 2016. Global, regional, and national fossil-fuel CO2emissions. Oak Ridge, TN, USA: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chand, R., S.S. Raju, and L.M. Pandey. 2008. Progress and potential of horticulture in India. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 63 (3): 299–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, W.Y. 2015. The role of urban green infrastructure in offsetting carbon emissions in 35 major Chinese cities: A nationwide estimate. Cities 44: 112–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chettri, N., A.B. Shrestha, Z. Yan, et al. 2012. Real world protection for the “Third Pole” and its people. In Protection of the three poles, ed. F. Huettmann, 113–133. Tokyo: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Choudhury, N. 2014. Environment in an emerging economy: The case of environmental impact assessment follow-up in India. In Large dams in Asia, ed. M. Nüsser, 101–124. Dordrecht: Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dong, S.K., L. Wen, L. Zhu, et al. 2010. Implication of coupled natural and human systems in sustainable rangeland ecosystem management in HKH region. Frontiers of Earth Science in China 4 (1): 42–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eriksson, M., J.C. Xu, A.B. Shrestha, et al. 2009. The changing Himalayas: impact of climate change on water resources and livelihoods in the greater Himalayas. ICIMOD. Kathmandu.

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO, IFAD, WFP. 2013. The state of food insecurity in the world 2013. The multiple dimensions of food security. Rome: FAO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao, Q., Y. Li, E. Lin, et al. 2005. Temporal and spatial distribution of grassland degradation in northern Tibet. Acta Geographica Sinica 60 (6): 965–973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurung, P., and T.Y.C. Sherpa. 2014. Freshwater scarcity and sustainable water management in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) Region. Hydro Nepal Journal of Water Energy & Environment 15 (15): 42–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton, R.A., G.R.V.D. Werf, R.S. DeFries, et al. 2012. Chapter G2 carbon emissions from land use and land-cover change. Biogeosciences 9 (1): 5125–5142.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • ICIMOD. 2013. Policy and institutions in adaptation to climate change: Case study on flood mitigation infrastructure in India and Nepal. In ICIMOD working paper 2013/4. Kathmandu: ICIMOD.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC. 2014. Climate change: Mitigation of climate change. Contribution of working group III to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • IUCN/IWMI. 2003. Ramsar Convention and WRI. Watersheds of The world. https://www.wri.org/publication/watersheds-world.

  • Jackson, R.B., K. Lajtha, S.E. Crow, et al. 2017. The ecology of soil carbon: Pools, vulnerabilities, and biotic and abiotic controls. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution & Systematics 48 (1): 419–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khadka, D., M.S. Babel, S. Shrestha, et al. 2014. Climate change impact on glacier and snow melt and runoff in Tamakoshi basin in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. Journal of Hydrology 511 (4): 49–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirschbaum, M.U.F. 2000. Will changes in soil organic carbon act as a positive or negative feedback on global warming? Biogeochemistry 48 (1): 21–51.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, P., S. Mittal, and M. Hossain. 2008. Agricultural growth accounting and total factor productivity in South Asia: A review and policy implications. Agricultural Economics Research Review 21 (2): 145–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurvits, T., and B. Kaltenborn. 2014. The Last Straw: Food security in the Hindu Kush Himalayas and the additional burden of climate change. Kathmandu: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lal, R. 2002. Soil carbon dynamics in cropland and rangeland. Environmental Pollution 116 (3): 353–362.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lal, R. 2004. Soil carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change. Geoderma 123 (1–2): 1–22.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lal, R. 2016. Soil health and carbon management. Food & Energy Security 5 (4): 212–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Z., D. Guan, W. Wei, et al. 2015. Reduced carbon emission estimates from fossil fuel combustion and cement production in China. Nature 524 (7565): 335–346.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lópezpujol, J., F.M. Zhang, and S. Ge. 2006. Plant biodiversity in China: Richly varied, endangered, and in need of conservation. Biodiversity and Conservation 15 (12): 3983–4026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mats, E., J.C. Xu, S. Arun Bhak, et al. 2009. The changing Himalayas: Impact of climate change on water resources and livelihoods in the greater Himalayas. Kathmandu: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittermeier, R.A, P.R. Gil, M. Hoffmann, et al. 2017. Hotspots: Earth’s biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions. Journal of Mammalogy (2): 237–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molden, D.J., R.A. Vaidya, A.B. Shrestha, et al. 2014. Water infrastructure for the Hindu Kush Himalayas. International Journal of Water Resources Development 30 (1): 60–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Partap, T., and H.R. Watson. 1994. Sloping agricultural land technology (SALT): A regenerative option for sustainable mountain farming. In ICIMOD occasional paper no.23, Kathmandu, Nepal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qureshi, M.A., and G.M. Mastoi. 2015. The physiochemistry of sugar mill effluent pollution of coastlines in Pakistan. Ecological Engineering 75 (75): 137–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasul, G. 2014. Food, water, and energy security in South Asia: A nexus perspective from the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. Environmental Science & Policy 39 (5): 35–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaller, G.B., and A.L. Kang. 2008. Status of Marco Polo sheep Ovis ammon polii in China and adjacent countries: Conservation of a vulnerable subspecies. Oryx 42 (1): 100–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger, W.H., and E.S. Bernhardt. 2013. Biogeochemistry: An analysis of global change, 665–672. New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, E., I. Khadka, and G. Rana. 2009. Mountain biodiversity and climate change. Kathmandu: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, B.K., R.D. Bardgett, P. Smith, et al. 2010. Microorganisms and climate change: Terrestrial feedbacks and mitigation options. Nature Reviews Microbiology 8 (11): 779–790.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Surendra, K.C., S.K. Khanal, P. Shrestha, et al. 2011. Current status of renewable energy in Nepal: Opportunities and challenges. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 15 (8): 4107–4117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uddin, S.N., R. Taplin, and X. Yu. 2007. Energy, environment and development in Bhutan. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 11 (9): 2083–2103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Population Division. 2017. World population prospects: The 2017 revision, key findings and advance tables. In Working paper no. ESA/P/WP/248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q.S., S.S. Lu, X.L. Yuan, et al. 2017. The index system for project selection in ecological industrial park: A China study. Ecological Indicators 77: 267–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, R.T., I.R. Noble, B. Bolin, et al. 2000. Land use, land-use change and forestry: a special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Economic Forum. 2014. Competitiveness dataset. http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2014-2015/defining-sustainable-competitiveness/

  • Xu, J., R.E. Grumbine, A. Shrestha, et al. 2010. The melting Himalayas: Cascading effects of climate change on water, biodiversity, and livelihoods. Conservation Biology 23 (3): 520–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

    Wenyin Wang & Zhanhuan Shang

  2. Bioversity International, Lalitpur, Nepal

    Devendra Gauchan

  3. Desert Animal Adaptations and Husbandry, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

    A. Allan Degen

Authors
  1. Wenyin Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Devendra Gauchan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. Allan Degen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhanhuan Shang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhanhuan Shang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China

    Zhanhuan Shang

  2. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

    A. Allan Degen

  3. Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Khalid Rafiq

  4. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Victor R. Squires

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Wang, W., Gauchan, D., Degen, A.A., Shang, Z. (2020). Climate Change Mitigation and Pastoral Livelihood in the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region: Research Focuses, Opportunities and Challenges. In: Shang, Z., Degen, A., Rafiq, M., Squires, V. (eds) Carbon Management for Promoting Local Livelihood in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) Region. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20591-1_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation