The Eastern Himalayas cover areas like eastern Nepal to Northeast India, Bhutan, the Tibet Autonomous Region to Yunnan in China, and Northeast Myanmar. This area is a biodiversity hotspot, which means the wildlife there is endangered by human activity. This area is known for the Asian elephant, snow leopard, Ganges River dolphin, red panda, continental tiger, and greater one-horned rhino. There are also billions of people in this area.
The area is also known for its high peaks. There are 9 out of 10 highest peaks, including Mount Everest. These mountains, known as the Third Pole, are the origins of some of Asia’s great rivers and also help shape our planet’s climate. The area is also known as ‘The Water Towers of Asia.’ Because rivers like the Yangtze, the Ganges, the Indus, and the Mekong get their water from there. In this area, people used to live together with nature. This is the place where the Buddha was born, and it is also full of natural sights.
The Himalayas are threatened in many ways. The government feels pressured because of the need to provide for its people, and at the same time, they have to preserve the natural heritage. The forests there are under stress because of the increasing demand for timber and the land is needed to grow crops. There are areas where wildlife is protected, but they are isolated from the rest. A huge problem is illegal animal trade. Due to the effects of global warming, the Himalayas are disappearing faster than ever before. This means that the freshwater that is used by billions of people is also disappearing.
In the Himalayas, there are lots of different kinds of environments, and therefore, the wildlife is also very different there. In the west, there are more Alpine conditions, lots of glaciers, snow, and mountains. The altitudes are very different in there, and due to that, the vegetation times are different and also different life can form. The eastern Himalayas differ a lot from the west and central Himalayas.
In the Eastern Himalayas, a big part of the annual rainfall falls in snow. The climate there controls the river flow and the glacier mass. The Bay of Bengal monsoons are affecting the melting in the eastern Himalayas since the monsoon season is happening at the same time as the summer warmth is shrinking the glaciers there. Nowadays, in this area, there is noticeably more rainfall than before, which means that the glaciers are melting even faster and the floodings are also a lot more frequent.
So far, scientists have noticed that the annual warming rate is around 0.01 to 0.04 degrees Celsius. Higher temperatures are noticed during the winter, and summers are actually a little colder than they used to be. The rate of warming increases with elevation. Areas that are higher than 4000m are experiencing warming rates up to 0.06 degrees. They have also noticed changes in rain patterns.
Climate change will affect both people and wildlife. The impacts will be direct and indirect, and they are closely related, varying from impacts on biodiversity and related ecosystem goods and services to impacts on water balance, availability, and hazards to socioeconomic and health impacts on populations. The impacts on biodiversity would be the loss of habitat and fragmentation, invasive species, species exploitation, environmental contamination, and so on. In this area, there are also already problems with greenhouse gases, air pollution, changes in land use, deforestation, and land degradation. Since living conditions are hard there, people are moving to the cities for a better and easier life. That means that people who are living in these kinds of areas are directly affected by the changes.
Global warming will affect all the areas in the Eastern Himalayas, but places that are already damaged are in even bigger danger. Global warming will affect the water regime and have impacts on human health. There are already increases in extreme weather conditions, such as heat waves, tropical cyclones, extended periods of drought, intense rainfalls, snow avalanches, thunderstorms, and heavy dust storms.
Climate change is especially threatening the species, which have a narrow geographical and climate range. According to the prevailing extinction theory, species that are bigger and more specialized in a specific area are more likely to become extinct. Highland species are even more vulnerable because they are sensitive to temperature changes. Scientists have noticed that species who live in the northern hemisphere are moving towards northern latitudes, but species who already live in mountains don’t have anywhere to go. Scientists have noticed phenological changes as well, which means that flowers are budding or flowering earlier, and that can have an impact on the pollinators. And this, in turn, affects the productivity of the ecosystem. There are also changes in hibernation, migration, and breeding.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Himalayas
https://www.worldwildlife.org/places/eastern-himalayas
https://hir.harvard.edu/himalayan-climate-change/
https://www.cbd.int/doc/pa/tools/Climate%20change%20impacts%20and%20vulnerabilities%20in%20the%20Eastern%20Himalayas.pdf
https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/eastern_himalaya/threats/climate/
