Global Climate change to effect Sikkim & NE Biodiversity

The impact of climate change is likely to result in large-scale changes in the biodiversity of the Sikkim & Northeast, a study has revealed.

The study, sponsored by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), has warned that change in temperature, quantum and intensity of rainfall coupled with extreme weather conditions would have a long-term impact, particularly on the structure and composition of forests in the region.

The impact is likely to be more severe in areas where other pressures are deemed to be high, including stability of the natural systems affected due to socio-economic pressures such as encroachment on forest areas, over-grazing, felling of trees for jhum cultivation, etc.

With the impact not being uniform across the region, it is expected to be higher in certain areas and on certain communities because of various factors.

They include physio-geographic and topographic features, degree of association with climate-sensitive environments and ecosystems, socio-economic, political and cultural characteristics of the region and communities, the study pointed out.

The study seeks to understand the factors that determine the vulnerability of the Sikkim & Northeast in terms of the effect of the climatic change and identify measures to reduce the impact.

The study asserted that despite its rich natural resources, the region lagged behind others in terms of social and economic development.

Comprising eight states - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, the area is unique due to its rich forest resources that account for nearly 25 per cent of the total forest cover in India and covers nearly 66.8 per cent of its geographical area, much higher than the national average of 21 per cent.

With a total population of about 38 million (3.8 per cent of the country’s total population), the region has observed changes in its demographic and socio-economic profile, which have acted as important drivers for the alteration in its resource base.

The last three decades have witnessed intense land use change with increase in the demand for urbanisation, grazing, agricultural land and settlements, increased demand for fodder, fuel wood and timber production.

It is estimated that approximately 30 per cent of the total forest cover in the region is under pressure due to these factors, the TERI study said.

Besides pressures from natural hazards such as floods, forest fires and landslides, the study pointed out, seismic activity further exposed the region to the threats.

Lack of effective early warning systems and disaster management systems further intensify the impact of natural hazards, it pointed out.

The incidence of poverty is high with the percentage of population living below the poverty line as high as 32 per cent, much higher than the all India average of 21.6 per cent.

The study further said that the region had a low level of industrialisation and lacked infrastructure facilities to be able to exploit its rich natural resources.

Though it is sparsely populated with an overall density of 149 persons per sq km compared to the country’s average 313 per sq km (census, 2001), the region has, however, recorded a high population growth with the decadal growth higher than the national level of 21.5 per cent.

Nepal Cabinet to Meet On Mount Everest

KATHMANDU: Nepal is to hold a cabinet meeting on Mount Everest to highlight the impact of global warming on the Himalayas ahead of next month’s climate change talks in Copenhagen, a minister said Monday.

The entire cabinet will travel to Everest base camp at an altitude of 5,360 metres (17,585 feet) for the meeting, to be held later this month, forests minister Deepak Bohora told AFP.

The announcement comes just weeks after the government of the Maldives held an underwater cabinet meeting to focus global attention on rising sea levels ahead of the key UN summit on December 7-18.

“The melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas is a serious concern for us,” said Bohora.

“We want to focus the world’s attention on saving the Himalayas from the effects of climate change before the Copenhagen meeting.”

Around 1.3 billion people depend on the water that flows down from the Himalayan glaciers, which experts say are melting at an alarming rate, threatening to bring floods and later drought to the region.

Campaigners say that while the effects of climate change on low-lying South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and the Maldives are now well known, there is little international awareness of the vulnerability of the Himalayan region.

Bohora said the visit would be an opportunity for ministers to gain first-hand information about the effects of climate change on the vast mountain range.

“Climate change has hit the Himalayas in general and Nepal in particular,” he said.

“Its effects are being manifested in different forms, from the rapid increase in the size of the glacial lakes to erratic monsoon patterns and unprecedented forest fires.”

Bohora also said the government was planning to take some of the world’s top mountaineers to Copenhagen to talk about their experiences, among them Apa Sherpa, who has climbed Everest a record 19 times.

Sherpa has said in the past that the amount of snow on the world’s highest peak has fallen since he first reached its summit in 1990, a trend he blames on global warming.

FROM AFP

Sikkim CM Pawan Chamling to attend Himalayan states environment conclave in Shimla

Gangtok, Oct 27 : The impact of climate change in the Himalayan region will be high on the agenda when the chief ministers of five northern states meet in Shimla on Thursday during a conference.

The two-day conference, starting October 29 here, would be attended by the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, besides senior officers, technocrats, research scholars and NGOs, Additional chief secretary (Environment) Sarojni Ganju Thakur told reporters today in Shimla.

Union minister of state for Environment and Forest (Independent charge), Jairam Ramesh, will also be present during the conclave on Indian Himalayas, she added.

She said that delegates would discuss the issue of changing landscape of Indian iimalayas, Implications of climate Change on eco lystems and Livelihoods.

She said that glaciers were receding very rapidly in the Himalayan states due to change in climatic conditions. She said that recent studies in Himachal show that there was a 21 per cent decline in the size of glaciers in the state.

The feed back from the two day conclave would be added to national level Chief Minister’s and Environment Ministers’ Conference with the Prime Minister to formulate a uniform strategy and action plan for checking enviornment degradation.

She said that feed back from the consensus on the broader issues related to environment, emerging out of the conclave would also be implemented as Action Plan at the state level and would be formulated as the Himalayan Preservation Mission.

She said that prominent NGO’s, institutions and self help groups from the Himalayan states have also been invited to attended the two day conclave.

Study On Snow and glacier of Sikkim Himalaya

Cause for fear
State concerned by report from UN panel on global warming, glacial melting.

Will assess potential impact of climate change on its eco-system, livelihood.

Receding glaciers may be disastrous to hydel power plants being built.



Gangtok, October15: Alarmed by the steady rate at which glaciers in the Himalayas are receding, the Sikkim Government has constituted a Commission to study the state of the glaciers and its impact on the water system in this tiny Himalayan State.

The nine-member Commission is headed by Prof. S. Hasnain, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.

The Commission will review the current status of glaciers and snowmelt and potential impact of climate change on the mountain eco-system and suggest measures for modem scientific and technological intervention.

The Commission will also compile information from primary and secondary sources on glaciology, assess the potential impact of climate change on the mountain eco-system and livelihood in Sikkim, and suggest inter-disciplinary remedial steps.

Hydro projects


This has come at a time when the Sikkim Government has drawn up ambitious plans to harness the vast hydro-power potential of the State and has 23 hydro power projects in the pipeline.

Six mega power projects are being planned on the Teesta, the biggest river in the State, of which the 510-MW Teesta Stage V power project is nearly complete and is scheduled to be commissioned in December.

Sikkim has large number of glaciers which are natural reservoirs for the supply of water to the major river systems of the State. Reports by the UN inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change regarding global warming and glacial melting have set alarm bells ringing in the State.

Likely impacts


The receding glaciers and recurring phenomenon of glacial lake-outburst floods that have been recorded in the entire eastern Himalayan region, could directly impact the livelihood of a huge mass of hill and mountain people, as well as prove disastrous to the array of hydel power plants being built in the Teesta and other river basins in Sikkim and neighbouring States like West Bengal.

The Chief Minister, Mr Pawan Chamling, had written to the Prime Minister in August, extending the State Government’s keenness to be associated with the working of the high level advisory group on climate change — the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change — constituted by the Union Government.

By Sarikah Atreya