Informatics Publishing Limited

Jagdish Chandra Kuniyal ¹, Sarla Shashni ¹, Amit Kumar ¹, Nidhi Kanwar ¹, Bhim Chand ¹, R. C. Sundriyal ², Pitamber Prasad Dhyani ²

Affiliations
1 G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Himachal Unit, Mohal-Kullu 175 126, IN
2 G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, IN

Abstract

No Abstract.

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Ranjan Joshi ¹, Subrat Sharma ¹, R. C. Sundriyal ¹, P. P. Dhyani ¹, Jagdish Chandra Kuniyal ²

Affiliations
1 G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, IN
2 Himachal Unit, G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Mohal-Kullu 175 126, IN

Abstract

No Abstract.

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Jagdish Chandra Kuniyal ¹, Renu Lata ¹, Amit Kumar ¹, Bhim Chand ¹, Nidhi Kanwar ¹, Sheetal Chaudhary ¹, Kireet Kumar ², Pitamber Prasad Dhyani ³

Affiliations
1 G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, Himachal Regional Centre, Mohal-Kullu 175 126, IN
2 G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, IN
3 Shri Guru Ram Rai University, Dehradun 248 001, IN

Abstract

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), spreading from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Jammu and Kashmir in the west and covering 530,795 km² of geographical area, holds a special place in the mountain ecosystems of the world. The IHR is also known as the third water tower of the earth and supplies water to a larger part of the Indian subcontinent. Due to the rich water potential of the IHR and the ever-increasing energy demands of the country, the Government of India recognized that hydropower potential needs to be harnessed to the maximum for economic development.

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Jagdish Chandra Kuniyal ¹, Sami Ullah Bhat ², Huidrom Birkumar Singh ³

Affiliations
1 G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, IN
2 Department of Environmental Science, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, IN
3 CSIR-North-East Institute of Science and Technology, Branch Laboratory, Lamphelpat, Imphal 795 004, IN

Abstract

The different ecosystems like snow or headwater from the northwestern to the northeastern Himalayan Region from mountains to riverine basins will be adversely affected due to rapid melting of glaciers/snow and erratic seasonal surface run-off flow. This may have direct or indirect implications on existing developmental interventions and economic activities such as hydropower projects, mass tourism, land-use components, biodiversity, riverine aquatic life, alternate livelihood options and above all human well-being. To know the primary status of climate change and related livelihood issues and to seek adaptive strategies, a series of four consultation meetings/ workshops with a view to enhance capacity building of different representative stakeholders in different ecosystems of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) were organized.

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Jagdish Chandra Kuniyal ¹, Richard Johnson ², Esther Edwards ²

Affiliations
1 G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, IN
2 Hazard, Risk and Disaster Research Group, Bath Spa University, Newton Park, Newton St Loe, Bath BA29BN, US

Abstract

The rugged landscape of the Indian Himalayan region elevates the risk of hazard events and holds back socioeconomic development opportunities for remote and vulnerable communities. Particularly notable are landslides, floods, forest fires and earthquakes. A recent international assessment of disaster impacts (1996–2015) revealed that India as a whole suffered the fifth largest mortality, especially related to flood events¹.

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Mukunda M. Gogoi ¹, S. Suresh Babu ¹, B. S. Arun ¹, K. Krishna Moorthy ², A. Ajay ³, P. Ajay ⁴, Arun Suryavanshi ⁵, Arup Borgohain ⁶, Anirban Guha ⁷, Atiba Shaikh ⁸, Binita Pathak ⁴, Biswadip Gharai ⁹, Boopathy Ramasamy ¹⁰, G. Balakrishnaiah ¹¹, Harilal B. Menon ⁸, Jagdish Chandra Kuniyal ¹², Jayabala Krishnan ¹³, K. Rama Gopal ¹¹, M. Maheswari ¹³, Manish Naja ¹⁴, Parminder Kaur ⁷, Pradip K. Bhuyan ⁴, Pratima Gupta ¹⁵, Prayagraj Singh ¹⁶, Priyanka Srivastava ¹⁴, R. S. Singh ¹⁷, Ranjit Kumar ¹⁵, Shantanu Rastogi ¹⁶, Shyam Sundar Kundu ⁶, Sobhan Kumar Kompalli ¹, Subhasmita Panda ¹⁰, Tandule Chakradhar Rao ¹¹, Trupti Das ¹⁰, Yogesh Kant ¹⁸

Affiliations
1 Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, IN
2 Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN
3 Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN
4 Centre for Atmospheric Studies, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh 786 004, IN
5 Regional Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Nagpur 440 033, IN
6 North Eastern – Space Application Centres, Shillong 793 103, IN
7 Department of Physics, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar, Agartala 799 022, IN
8 Department of Marine Sciences, Goa University, Goa 403 206, IN
9 National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, IN
10 Indian Institute of Mineral and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar 751 013, IN
11 Sri Krishna Devaraya University, Anantapur 515 003, IN
12 G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kullu 175 126, IN
13 Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641 003, IN
14 Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Nainital 263 002, IN
15 Department of Chemistry, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra 282 005, IN
16 Department of Physics, D.D.U. Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur 273 009, IN
17 Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT-BHU, Varanasi 221 005, IN
18 Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Research Organisation, Dehradun 248 001, IN

Abstract

In this study, we assess the response of ambient aero-sol black carbon (BC) mass concentrations and spec-tral absorption properties across Indian mainland during the nation-wide lockdown (LD) in connection with the Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pan-demic. The LD had brought near to total cut-off of emissions from industrial, traffic (road, railways, ma-rine and air) and energy sectors, though the domestic emissions remained fairly unaltered. This provided a unique opportunity to delineate the impact of fossil fuel combustion sources on atmospheric BC characte-ristics. In this context, the primary data of BC meas-ured at the national network of aerosol observatories (ARFINET) under ISRO-GBP are examined to assess the response to the seizure of emissions over distinct geographic parts of the country. Results indicate that average BC concentrations over the Indian mainland are curbed down significantly (10–40%) from pre-lockdown observations during the first and most in-tense phase of lockdown. This decline is significant with respect to the long-term (2015–2019) averaged (climatological mean) values. The drop in BC is most pronounced over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (>60%) and north-eastern India (>30%) during the second phase of lockdown, while significant reduction is seen during LD1 (16–60%) over central and peninsular Indian as well as Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions. De-spite such a large reduction, the absolute magnitude of BC remained higher over the IGP and north-eastern sites compared to other parts of India. Notably, the spectral absorption index of aerosols changed very little over most of the locations, indicating the still persisting contribution of fossil-fuel emissions over most of the locations.

Keywords

ARFINET, Black Carbon, COVID-19.

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Jagdish Chandra Kuniyal ¹, Nidhi Kanwar ¹, Ajay Singh Bhoj ¹, Kuldeep Singh Rautela ¹, Pramod Joshi ¹, Kireet Kumar ¹, Mohd Sharjeel Sofi ², Sami Ullah Bhat ², Irfan Rashid ³, Mahindra Singh Lodhi ⁴, Ch. Anniebesant Devi ⁵, Huidrom Birkumar Singh ⁵

Affiliations
1 Govind Ballabh Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, IN
2 Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, IN
3 Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, IN
4 Govind Ballabh Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, North-East Regional Centre, Itanagar 791 113, IN
5 CSIR: North-East Institute of Science and Technology, Branch Laboratory, Lamphelpat, Imphal 795 004, IN

Abstract

Mountains are considered as the early indicators of climate change. The study aims to understand how the Himalayan communities perceive climate change, and how this change has impacted the livelihood and sustenance of local people particularly in the remote and rural areas of the region. In view of this, 994 households of 25 villages were interviewed from five basins (five villages per basin) of the Indian Himalayan Region. Their perceptions mainly of climate change were validated/compared with the available climatic indices. People perceived rainfall pattern to be less predictable, greater change in land-use pattern, adverse impacts on forests and human health and overall reduction in their harvests. Seasonal increase in temperature was also reported. Capacity-building programmes for the inhabitants, including the most vulnerable communities in the wake of climate change would be significantly fruitful by way of mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Keywords

Adaptive Strategies, Climate Change, Glacierfed and Non-glacier-fed Ecosystems, People’s Perception.

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