HOT SPOTS HIT BY CLIMATE IN HKH

It may sound alarming but the fact remains that warning by the scientists earlier this year declaring the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region a biosphere on the brink of collapse needs immediate attention as does their call for bold action and urgent adequate finance to prevent nature loss in one of the most biodiverse areas on the Earth.

At a key meeting of global biodiversity experts held in Kathmandu this year under the aegis of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), about 150 of them issued a call to this effect. It was, in fact, the Third Lead Authors meeting of the intergovernmental science policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES) nexus assessment to examine the linkages between food and water security, health, biodiversity and climate change.
 
The HKH region has a vast stretch of 3500 kms and spans eight countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan and is inhabited by over 241 million people of whom, according to an estimate, 31 per cent are food insecure and still, half of whom face some form of malnutrition.

It seeks to enhance understanding of the intricate relationships between biodiversity, water, food and health in the context of climate change with the aim being to identify options for improved policies and foster collaboration across related sectors.

Among its other recommendations include pushing for a much more rapid increase in integrated global finance, especially for high value and vulnerable regions like HKH and needs to accelerate policy, institutional and market reforms to make the positive changes happen. It also recommended ensuring that funding rises at an exponential rate before these fragile and crucial ecosystems collapse, by building nature into all investment and action.

Researchers at ICIMOD, which hosted the meeting, painted a dismal scenario by describing the speed and scale of losses in nature and habitat in the HKH region as catastrophic. “It is almost too late,” ICIMOD Deputy Director General Izabella Koziell told delegates to the IPBES meeting.

Yet we are in an accelerating crisis, despite the efforts of everyone here and many in the international community. Seventy per cent of the original biodiversity has been lost over the last century,” she said. But this region still holds almost 85 percent of earth’s species of amphibians, birds and mammals. In fact, mountains cover about 22 percent of earth’s land space but hold 50 per cent of the world’s global biodiversity hotspots. And given the mountains’ acute vulnerability to climate change, the ICIMOD researchers have called for IPBES to consider a dedicated global mountains assessment. This is the first time an IPBES assessment meeting was held in South Asia.

“The declines in nature across this region are so advanced and accelerating so fast they now pose a threat to the lives of not just animal and plant life, but also human societies,” said IPBES author and ICIMOD Ecosystems Specialist Sunita Chaudhary. “This is a region that must be urgently prioritised for investment — to fund the fight to reverse nature loss and species extinction. 

Experts opined worldwide we are seeing a huge uptick in investments in ecosystem restoration and a growing recognition of the role that nature plays in human survival. They said it must be ensured that funding to the HKH region rises at an exponential rate before these fragile and crucial ecosystems collapse.Chaudhary and ICIMOD colleagues Abid Hussein and Nakul Chettri are among the experts contributing to the nexus assessment report.

In fact, the event was seen as recognition of the organization’s sustained efforts and commitment to science diplomacy about this extraordinarily rich and fragile zone over the past 40 years. Halting and reversing biodiversity loss is deemed critical for the survival of hundreds of millions of people in Asia’s mountains.

Set up in 2012 with 145 member- states, the IPBES functions similarly to the intergovernmental panel on climate change with aim to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The objective of the meet was to discuss the outcomes of the 2nd external review of the second draft of the chapters, finalise text tables and figures for the final draft of chapters and work on the second draft of summary for policy makers among others.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle