Biodiversity Conservation of Western Himalayas: A Pluralistic Approach

Abstract

The conservation of biodiversity has been a matter of serious concern all over the world. Regions of the world with rapidly changing land use and economies require transdisciplinary focus to adequately address today’s challenges for conservation, local livelihoods, and development. Himalayan ecosystem sustainability is vital for the employment of approximately 1.3 billion people in Asia. The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) are special for their natural geological wealth, forest, flora, fauna and biodiversity, snow, ice and water bodies, traditional knowledge, and mountain agriculture. It is now widely accepted that the rich and diverse Himalayan ecosystem is fragile. The regions are predominantly populated by local societies. Live in biodiversity wealthy regions of the country, the neighboring mountainous communities are dependent upon biodiversity for meeting their livelihood security. Hence, sustaining biodiversity in the mountain region also means defending the benefit of the people. Recognition of the Himalayas as one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots aptly reflects its wide-ranging ecological significance. Societies across the world have had long-standing traditions of using and caring for nature, but the formal, mainstream, and largely western ‘conservation movement’ is only about 120 years old. Biocultural approaches to conservation represent a synthesis of theory across multiple fields linked to biodiversity conservation, including social-ecological systems thinking, commons theory, bio-cultural diversity and heritage, indigenous natural resource management and traditional ecological knowledge, and different models of participatory and people-centered conservation. This synthesis points to the potential for pluralistic, partnership-based, and dynamic approaches to guide conservation processes.