IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/envsyd/v21y2001i1d10.1023_a1010638104135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changing scenario of Himalayan agroecosystems: loss of agrobiodiversity, an indicator of environmental change in Central Himalaya, India

Author

Listed:
  • R. K. Maikhuri

    (G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment)

  • K. S. Rao

    (G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment)

  • R. L. Semwal

    (G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment)

Abstract

Environmental, biological, socio-cultural and economic variations in the Himalayas have led to the evolution of diverse and unique traditional agroecosystems, crop species, and livestock, which help the traditional mountain farming societies to sustain themselves. During the recent past, as a result of rapid changes in land use caused by socio-cultural and economic changes and various environmental perturbations, the agrobiodiversity of the Central Himalayan agroecosystems has changed steadily. A recent survey conducted in 150 different villages located along an elevated transect of the Alaknanda catchment of the Central Himalaya revealed that over a period of two decades (1970–74 and 1990–94) the cultivated area under many traditional crops had declined significantly. A micro-level study carried out in 30 villages revealed that a series of changes had occurred in land use practices over a period of 25–30 years. The loss of agrobiodiversity and the changing socio-cultural and economic dimensions and their impacts on the sustainability of Himalayan agroecosystems are emerging as major causes of concern at local/regional/national scale, and appropriate options to meet these challenges are discussed in this paper.

Suggested Citation

  • R. K. Maikhuri & K. S. Rao & R. L. Semwal, 2001. "Changing scenario of Himalayan agroecosystems: loss of agrobiodiversity, an indicator of environmental change in Central Himalaya, India," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 23-39, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:envsyd:v:21:y:2001:i:1:d:10.1023_a:1010638104135
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1010638104135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1023/A:1010638104135
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/A:1010638104135?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Partho Protim Mondal & Yili Zhang, 2018. "Research Progress on Changes in Land Use and Land Cover in the Western Himalayas (India) and Effects on Ecosystem Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Radhika Gupta & L. Jamila Haider & Henrik Österblom, 2020. "The theory of cross-scale interactions: an illustration from remote villages in Sikkim, India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3777-3804, April.
    3. Kiros Hadgu & Walter Rossing & Lammert Kooistra & Ariena Bruggen, 2009. "Spatial variation in biodiversity, soil degradation and productivity in agricultural landscapes in the highlands of Tigray, northern Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 1(1), pages 83-97, February.
    4. Sanjay Kr. Uniyal & Anjali Awasthi & Gopal S. Rawat, 2003. "Developmental Processes, Changing Lifestyle and Traditional Wisdom: Analyses from Western Himalaya," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 307-312, December.
    5. Anshuman Singh & Ranjay K. Singh & Neeraj Kumar & Suresh Kumar & Parvender Sheoran & Dheeraj Singh & Satyendra Kumar & P. C. Sharma, 2022. "Adapting to Social–Ecological Risks to the Conservation of a Muskmelon Landrace in India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Robert Zomer & Antonio Trabucco & Marc Metzger & Mingcheng Wang & Krishna Oli & Jianchu Xu, 2014. "Projected climate change impacts on spatial distribution of bioclimatic zones and ecoregions within the Kailash Sacred Landscape of China, India, Nepal," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 445-460, August.
    7. Roopam Shukla & Ankit Agarwal & Kamna Sachdeva & Juergen Kurths & P. K. Joshi, 2019. "Climate change perception: an analysis of climate change and risk perceptions among farmer types of Indian Western Himalayas," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 103-119, January.
    8. Matthew E. Eja, 2006. "Socioeconomic indicators and the survival of the tropical rainforest of cross river state of Nigeria," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 83-92, June.
    9. Phondani, P.C. & Maikhuri, R.K. & Rawat, L.S. & Jugran, A. & Bhatt, A. & Bisht, N.S., 2017. "Policy implications of utilizing indigenous tree species as agroforestry systems in Himalayan states of India: Case study of Uttarakhand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 202-209.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:envsyd:v:21:y:2001:i:1:d:10.1023_a:1010638104135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.