Environment and Ecology Research Vol. 1(3), pp. 150 - 154
DOI: 10.13189/eer.2013.010305
Reprint (PDF) (286Kb)

People Perception on Climate Change and Their Influence on Various Aspects around Tones Valley of Garhwal Himalaya

Vardan Singh Rawat ^*
Department of Botany, D.S.B. Campus, Kumaun University, Nainital, Uttarakhand

ABSTRACT

Climate change is already being experienced by the community in the form of irregular rainfall and snow fall, increasing temperature, decreasing moisture content as a result some plant species have changed their new leaf formation time, flowering and fruiting time, which is now 15 to 20 days ahead as compared to the timings 10-15 years ago. Furthermore, changes in flowering and fruiting time, increased invade species like Parthinium hysteroporus, Agerative spp, Lantana camera in the farm land as well as forest land. Low amount of snow fall in the Himalayan region affected to the Nomad groups due low grass available to feed their livestock. Climate and weather also determine food security of the hill communities, who rely on agriculture and animal husbandry for their subsistence needs. These persistent changes in the weather have resulted in the overall decrease in the quantity of available water in all the water sources of the region. The present study revealed that a majority of farmers (56%) were aware about global warming and hence about the changes in the climate (52%). A significant percentage of them (86%) were agreed that persistent change in the climate has dried the water bodies, adversely affected the quantity and quality of various fruits. Broad leave species are being replaced with pine which is a major cause of forest fires. Crop productivity has been reduced because of low soil fertility and higher incidence of diseases. A positive change observed by villagers is that the ripening period of wheat has reduced by some days. Adapting to climate change, people have started cultivation of crop varieties that required less water. Villagers have also adopted new enterprises for income generation. Forest, soil and water conservation are some important issues highlighted by community to reduce future risks. Such knowledge can allow scientists to test specific hypotheses, and policy makers to design mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change, especially in an extraordinarily important part of our world that is experiencing considerable change.

KEYWORDS
Community Forest, Tones valley, Himalaya, Nomad

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Vardan Singh Rawat , "People Perception on Climate Change and Their Influence on Various Aspects around Tones Valley of Garhwal Himalaya," Environment and Ecology Research, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 150 - 154, 2013. DOI: 10.13189/eer.2013.010305.

(b). APA Format:
Vardan Singh Rawat (2013). People Perception on Climate Change and Their Influence on Various Aspects around Tones Valley of Garhwal Himalaya. Environment and Ecology Research, 1(3), 150 - 154. DOI: 10.13189/eer.2013.010305.