Local Socio-Economic Dynamics Shaping Forest Ecosystems …
57
• International strategies and interventions
There is enough good will from international agencies to support conservation of
biodiversity in Central Himalayas. Several agencies such as United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, Global Environment Facility, United Nations
Development Programme, World Wildlife Fund, Asian Development Bank, and
International Union for Conservation of Nature have provided financial as well as
technical support to the forestry and biodiversity sector in many parts of Central
Himalayas. It is most likely that these agencies will increase support and inputs in
the region in the future too.
5 Conclusions
In order to improve understanding of above mentioned concerns of biodiversity loss
and deforestation in Central Himalayas there is a vital need to understand the conceptual model of socio-economic biodiversity drivers and pressures and do a situational
analysis for site-specific locations. Limited numbers of studies have tried to examine
how different socio-economic factors interact spatially and temporally at different
scales. There is a pertinent need of an all-inclusive and coalescing agenda that can
help to address a broad range of socio-economic factors and their complex linkages.
Considering the situation from the lens of socio-economy as an important but indirect
driver of biodiversity loss the message is clear that underlying drivers of biodiversity
loss in the region are complex and many of them also lie outside forestry sector. This
study was intended as an analytical approach for a series of case studies that explored
a few important socio-economic root causes of biodiversity loss. Examples covered
in the study were from different locations of the region, with a variety of environmental and socio-economic conditions. But the only aspect that was common for
each location was that biodiversity was threatened by largely by some human activity (some of the activities were driven locally while, some of them were driven by
regional, national and international drivers that were out of the geographical area).
Socio-economic factors including social, economic, political and governance were
observed to be a few of the root causes of these drivers. A few examples elaborating on
extraction of species and interlinked rampant loss of habitats enriched our knowledge
and understanding of root causes of biodiversity loss. This is going to be a crucial
first step in developing effective strategies for biodiversity conservation that help
target long term benefits for human well being. Given the diversity of examples, the
strategies of conservation need to be essentially wide-ranging. Strategies projected
will provide some direction to examples that seek to disclose the relationships among
socio-economic factors and biodiversity loss. Recognizing the complexity and the
multiplicity of causes and the mechanisms through which fundamental features work
it is essential to explore and decipher complexity of drivers of biodiversity loss in
the region by facilitating and initiating more research in this direction.
57
• International strategies and interventions
There is enough good will from international agencies to support conservation of
biodiversity in Central Himalayas. Several agencies such as United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, Global Environment Facility, United Nations
Development Programme, World Wildlife Fund, Asian Development Bank, and
International Union for Conservation of Nature have provided financial as well as
technical support to the forestry and biodiversity sector in many parts of Central
Himalayas. It is most likely that these agencies will increase support and inputs in
the region in the future too.
5 Conclusions
In order to improve understanding of above mentioned concerns of biodiversity loss
and deforestation in Central Himalayas there is a vital need to understand the conceptual model of socio-economic biodiversity drivers and pressures and do a situational
analysis for site-specific locations. Limited numbers of studies have tried to examine
how different socio-economic factors interact spatially and temporally at different
scales. There is a pertinent need of an all-inclusive and coalescing agenda that can
help to address a broad range of socio-economic factors and their complex linkages.
Considering the situation from the lens of socio-economy as an important but indirect
driver of biodiversity loss the message is clear that underlying drivers of biodiversity
loss in the region are complex and many of them also lie outside forestry sector. This
study was intended as an analytical approach for a series of case studies that explored
a few important socio-economic root causes of biodiversity loss. Examples covered
in the study were from different locations of the region, with a variety of environmental and socio-economic conditions. But the only aspect that was common for
each location was that biodiversity was threatened by largely by some human activity (some of the activities were driven locally while, some of them were driven by
regional, national and international drivers that were out of the geographical area).
Socio-economic factors including social, economic, political and governance were
observed to be a few of the root causes of these drivers. A few examples elaborating on
extraction of species and interlinked rampant loss of habitats enriched our knowledge
and understanding of root causes of biodiversity loss. This is going to be a crucial
first step in developing effective strategies for biodiversity conservation that help
target long term benefits for human well being. Given the diversity of examples, the
strategies of conservation need to be essentially wide-ranging. Strategies projected
will provide some direction to examples that seek to disclose the relationships among
socio-economic factors and biodiversity loss. Recognizing the complexity and the
multiplicity of causes and the mechanisms through which fundamental features work
it is essential to explore and decipher complexity of drivers of biodiversity loss in
the region by facilitating and initiating more research in this direction.