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Status of Climate Change and Implications to Ecology and Community Livelihoods in the Bhutan Himalaya

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Environmental Change in the Himalayan Region

Abstract

The eastern Himalayan climate is strongly determined by a rugged mountainous terrain and the impact of the Indian summer monsoon. Climate change increases the vulnerability of key economic sectors (e.g., agriculture, forestry and hydro-power generation) of Bhutan and threatens the countries rich biodiversity, its fragile community livelihoods and increases the probability of hazardous events (e.g., glacier lake outburst floods, flash floods, droughts and forest fires). A comprehensive knowledge of Bhutan’s climatic conditions and their variability is therefore essential to enhance the efficiency and applicability of adaptation efforts. Very few studies on the climatology of the Bhutanese Himalaya have been published so far. The scanty literature has primarily focused on the reduction of threats related to the formation of glacier lakes. In contrast, this study (1) analyses the average spatial and inner-annual variability of air temperature and precipitation regimes of Bhutan, based on local meteorological observations and climate projections, and (2) relates the effects of climatic changes on water resources, ecosystem services, agriculture and the economy of Bhutan.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Previous major GLOF's occurred in the years 1957, 1960 and 1968 (Komori 2008; NEC 2011).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Department of Hydro-Met Services (DHMS), for the provision of Bhutan’s climate data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Environmental Research Centre, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Brennhausgasse 14, 09599, Freiberg, Germany

    Andreas Hoy

  2. College of Natural Resources, Department of Forestry, Royal University of Bhutan, Lobesa, Bhutan

    Om Katel

  3. Graduate School of Bio-agricultural Sciences, Division of Regional Resources Management, Lab of Forest Resources Utilization, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Om Katel

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  1. Andreas Hoy
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Correspondence to Andreas Hoy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Gauhati University, Guwahati, India

    Anup Saikia

  2. Department of Geography & Planning, Sherubtse College, Royal University of Bhutan, Kanglung, Bhutan

    Pankaj Thapa

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Hoy, A., Katel, O. (2019). Status of Climate Change and Implications to Ecology and Community Livelihoods in the Bhutan Himalaya. In: Saikia, A., Thapa, P. (eds) Environmental Change in the Himalayan Region. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03362-0_2

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