Conservation
CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY
The Great Himalayan National Park demonstrates ecosystem services in four broad categories (i) Provisioning such water production, (ii) Regulating such as climate changes, (iii) Cultural such as recreational and spiritual benefits, and (iv) Supporting such as pollination and nutrient cycles (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in early 2000s). All these four services emanate from the native biological diversity. So far, the remoteness of the Park has ensured very little or no aggression of alien species which makes this area a very nice representative and refugium of the biological diversity of Western Himalayas:
{A} Native vegetation: Recent studies show that the native vegetation has greater capacity to provide ecosystem services under changing environmental conditions. GHNP’s isolation offers undisturbed, majestic wilderness through its remoteness and difficulty of access. There are no motorable roads that closely approach the Park, and it requires at least half a day of hiking (15 km) through the Ecozone even to cross its physical boundary. This strongly protects biological diversity and creates a true refuge from encroaching civilization. Classical Himalayan mountain features, from deep river-cut, V-shaped valleys to dramatic, upthrust peaks, all offer immense natural beauty.
(i) Provisioning such as water production,
(ii) Regulating such as climate changes,
(iii) Cultural such as recreational and spiritual, and
(iv) Supporting such as pollination and nutrient cycles.
(Forests in mist in Sainj Valley).
{B} Biological Insurance: Ecological explorations exemplify that the extinctions of native species in temperate ecosystems causes a cascade of other extinctions, accelerating the rate of community change. The well protected environs of GHNP help survival of many endangered species such as Western Tragopan, Chir Pheasant, Snow Leopard and many more.
{C} Biodiverse systems, on average, store more carbon and do so more reliably. The GHNP is a very nice area for undertaking such studies which can demonstrate that the native species are more effective in sequestering Carbon. Being a Protected Area under Law, the Park is a long term store house for Carbon.
{D} Biodiversity is multidimensional (livelihoods, spiritual, climate change, Carbon sequestration, water, etc).in a mountain ecosystem such as GHNP.
{E} Thus, More functions and services need more local species.
Conversely, there are various scenarios of Collapse of Ecosystems when indigenous biological diversity has been compromised: example of industrial waste killing wetlands and rivers, or fumes into atmosphere killing plants, animals as a result of air pollution.
More on Native Species Conservation of GHNP
The Challenges
In a developing country where there are enormous human population pressures, especially for the exploitation of natural resources, setting aside a crown jewel of the Himalayas like GHNP and its adjacent protected areas in perpetuity demonstrates a politically courageous commitment to nature conservation at a national level, which is in itself of outstanding universal value.
For many hundreds of years, GHNP was a region where local village communities made use of adjacent wildlands to graze domestic cattle and sheep, to collect wild foods, especially medicinal plants, and to augment their protein intake by hunting wild game. In the latter part of the twentieth century these activities, especially the collection of medicinal plants, intensified as some species came to have commercial value outside the immediate region. Since the formal, final establishment of GHNP in 1999 following the resolution and elimination of traditional rights, conservation efforts by Park staff have effectively restricted entry and drastically reduced human impact. The restoration and rejuvenation of natural systems is facilitating the return of all the Park’s habitats to a more natural and undisturbed condition.
The Great Himalayan National Park was selected as one of the first national parks in India to demonstrate the approach of linking biodiversity conservation with local social and economic development broadly known as ecodevelopment. International assistance funded the five year Conservation of Biodiversity (CoB) Project which started in late 1994. The CoB Project at GHNP addresses some of these concerns:
- Conservation of biodiversity in a “megadiversity” country.
- Conservation of Himalayan ecosystem in danger of fragmentation and degradation.
- Help prepare future projects to address additional critical biodiversity issues.
- Developing linkages between conservation and development.
As Indian villages turn into towns and towns transform into cities at an accelerated rate, pressures on the natural world are dramatically increasing. The exclusion of poor people from needed resources presents challenging management and educational efforts to help them find alternative livelihoods that don’t directly exploit the Park and engender ther support for nature conservation. Aware of these stresses, there has been a concerted policy effort to protect the unique ecological aspects of GHNP and work with local communities. In addition protected areas contiguous with the Park have been established to ensure that there are extensive land corridors so that animals can move freely through their ranges and plant dispersal can take place.
