Global Change Biodiversity and Livelihoods in Cold Desert Region of Asia

Contents: Preface. I. Climate, soil and wild biodiversity: 1. Tree rings in understanding long-term climate change in cold desert region of Lahaul and spiti, Himachal Pradesh, India/Ram R. Yadav. 2. Relationship between ENSO phases and wintertime precipitation over Western Himalayas/A.P. Dimiri. 3. Characterization and classification of soil resource of cold desert areas in Himachal Pradesh, India/S.P. Sharma and P.D. Sharma. 4. Diversity, distribution and conservation prioritization of economically important species in Lahaul Valley, North-Western Himalaya, India/S.S. Samant, Ashok Singh, Manohar Lal and Pankaj Sharma. 5. Conservation and utilization of biodiversity in high altitude cold desert of India/C.P. Kala. 6. Rangelands of Eastern Ladakh: threatened plant communities and strategies for their conservation/G.S. Rawat, B.S. Adhikari and S.K. Uniyal. 7. Collembola (Hexapoda) in cold desert region of India-a preliminary report/G.P. Mandal and H.S. Mehta. 8. Fish and fisheries in cold deserts of Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) and Himachal Pradesh, India/Indu Sharma and H.S. Mehta. 9. Fauna of Chandratal lake in cold desert region of India/H.S. Mehta and Sanjeev Kumar. 10. Earthworm diversity of Indian cold desert/J.M. Julka and Rahul Paliwal. 11. Wild mammals of Pamir: conservation and management issues/A.S. Saidov. II. Changing land uses: driving factors and implications to sustainable livelihoods and conservation: 12. Structure and function of agro-ecosystems in cold desert of spiti catchment/K. Chandrasekhar, K.S. Rao and K.G. Saxena. 13. Cold desert agro-ecosystrems : a case study from Lahaul Valley, India/S.C.R. Vishvakarma, J.C. Kuniyal, Y.S. Rawat and Santi S. Oinam. 14. Changing livelihoods in cold desert: a case study from Niti Valley in Indian Himalaya/Nehal A. Farooquee, Nabi Kanta Jha and R.K. Maikhuri. 15. Nomadism in the Indian changthang: changes and implications on society and biodiversity/Yash Veer Bhatnagar and Navinder J. Singh. 16. Management of grazing lands in Indian cold desert: a village level study in spiti valley, India/R. Gawali, K.G. Saxena, K.S. Rao and R.K. Maikhuri. 17. Livelihood and natural resources in Asian cold desert: a case study from selected villages in Central Himalaya, Idnia/Sunil Nautiyal, R.K. Maikhuri, K.S. Rao and K.G. Saxena. 18. Changes in indigenous Tibetan knowledge about environment: a case study of Jiabi Village, Deqin Country, Yunnam, China/Lun Yin. 19. Primary production under conditions of global change: a case study from Annapurana conservation area, Nepal/Tor H. Aase. 20. Desertification in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau/Xian Xue, Lichao Liu, Jian Guo and Bangshuai Han. 21. Climate change and Himalayan cold deserts: mapping vulnerability and threat to environmental quality and indigenous livelihoods/G. Banerji and S. Basu. 22. Long distance migration of Mongolian gazelles and impacts of an International Railroad on wildlife on Mongolia/T.Y. Ito, A. Tsunekawa, B. Lhagvasuren, B. Lhagvasuren. B. Buuveibaatar, S. Takatsuki, N. Miura and A. Okada. 23. Land degradation, livelihoods and vulnerability in Pamir-Alai mountains in Central Asia/Nevelina I. Pachova, Fabrice Renaud and Libor Jansky. III. Scope of improving livelihoods and conserving/restoring environment: 24. Nutrient management strategies for sustainable livelihood in cold arid region of Himachal Pradesh, India/D.K. Parmar and R.S. Jamwal. 25. Scope of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae Rhamnoides L.) for sustainable livelihood in cold desert of Ladakh, India/Tsering Stobdan, O.P. Chaurasia, Girish Korekar, Ashish Yadav and Shashi Bala Singh. 26. Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.): scope for socio-economic development and environmental conservation in cold arid high altitudes/Ashish Yadav, Tsering Stobdan, Girish Korekar and Shashi Bala Singh. 27. Sustainable low-cost agrotechnologies for cold desert of India/Shashi Bala Singh. 28. Adaptation to climate change through an integrated rangeland ecosystem management strategy in the cold desert of Northwest Tibet, China/R.J. Long, Z.H. Shang, L.M. Ding and X.S. Guo. 29. A new approach to the fight against desertification in Inner Mongolia/Gaoming Jiang, Gang Li, Yonggeng Li, Meizhen Liu, Yu Peng, Linghao Li and Xingguo Han. 30. Enhancing local livelihood through decentralization of water and energy services in Ladakh cold desert region of India/Pranai Thapa. IV. Synthesis: 31. Global change, biodiversity and livelihoods in cold desert region of Asia: a synthesis/K.G. Saxena, Luohui Liang and Xian Xue. Index.

Cold desert region of Asia stands out for having the largest glaciers and expanse of tableland in highlands and the highest permanent human settlements of the world, globally valued biodiversity and the source of water to several snow-fed international river systems crucial for livelihood of millions of people. Survival of indigenous groups in the absence of any external support since centuries reflects the potential of indigenous knowledge about securing livelihood in an extremely inhospitable physical environment. The region, in terms of conventional development indicators, figures out as one of the most poor regions of the world. Designing and implementing innovative interventions, which enhance local livelihoods coupled with environmental conservations, restoration is a global challenge. United Nations University in collaboration with its network partners has been making efforts to meet this challenge and this volume emanates from the efforts for sustainable development in marginal mountain regions. With contributions of a multi-disciplinary group of researchers from China, Germany, India, Japan, Norway and Tajakistan, the volume provides the state of knowledge on global environmental changes, livelihoods and environmental conservation in Asian cold desert region. The content is organized into four sections.