Geopolitical perspective of environmental security and management in Himalayan mountain ecosystem

Abstract

Indian Himalaya Region is regarded as highly fragile and vulnerable mountain ecosystems but represents a complex array of physical and geo-political environment, well known for geo-hydrological, biological, aesthetic and cultural values. Owing to a unique bio-geographic location i.e., at the junction of Palaearctic and Indo-Malayan Realms, wide altitudinal range, topographic variation and numerous habitats, the ecosystem harbours a rich array of flora and fauna. Notwithstanding the apparent remoteness and inaccessibility, much of the IHR has suffered from human-induced biodiversity loss. Steady increase in human population has been responsible for extensive clearing of forests and grasslands for cultivation, and extensive logging and extraction of timber. The situation has further aggravated with climate change resulting in loss of perpetual ice resources. Thus, environmental security is essential for the conservation of biodiversity and to management of natural resources in Himalayan mountain ecosystem. It  started with sustainable development approach but, there are always exceptions which require careful management of political man and environment relations. Environmental security has potential to contribute significantly to biodiversity conservation, protection and natural resource management. Geopolitics of India‟s Policy toward achieving environmental security particularly focuses on reducing any adverse impact on Himalayan ecosystem. In the present paper an analysis of the different dimension of Himalaya n ecosystem and geopolitical perspective of environmental security issues has been done with the objective to monitor and evaluate the impact of anthropogenic interventions in Himalayan ecosystem and to identify the issues and problems that affects the future sustainability of Himalayan mountain environment.

Key Words: Environmental security, Himalayan ecosystem, geopolitics, biodiversity conservation.