Integrated landscape approaches to building resilience and multifunctionality in the Kailash Sacred Landscape,China

Climate warming-induced rangeland degradation in arid and semiarid steppe imposes substantial threats to the livelihoods of people.But this dilemma can be solved by combining all sectors of agriculture,animal husbandry and tourism through their complementarity,i.e.by adopting integrated landscape ecosystem-based approaches.A number of experiences and lessons have been achieved in a specific sector for its successful development,but not in the multiple social,economic,and ecological systems.In this study,we use the perspective of integrated ecosystem management to strengthen crop-livestock integration and innovative livelihoods,and propose a multifunctional Kailash Landscape to activate the inter-linkage among agriculture,animal husbandry,and heritage pilgrimage/tourism in order to achieve multiple functions of the socio-ecological system.A case study of Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative in China was quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed by land use and land cover change and their consequences on multiple ecosystem services.Integrated landscape management was found to be effective in building resilience of socio-ecosystems by reducing the vulnerability of traditional agriculture in terms of improving crop production and animal husbandry.A multifunctional landscape is expected to be integrated and build a resilient sector complementarity including farming,pastorism,environmental and socioeconomic function.The analyses show that integrated landscape approaches provide an effective perspective for sustainable socio-economic development in this sacred landscape.The findings highlight the importance of landscape-scale ecosystem-based adaptation to environment change.

A decline in snow cover area of Passu and Ghulkin valleys between 1995 and 2022

The global cryosphere is experiencing accelerated melting due to climate change.Currently,the Karakoram anomaly is under discussion with a debate about the possibility that the anomaly may have recently ended.This study aims to evaluate the up-to-date changes in snow cover in the western Karakoram region.We observed the snow cover changes in Passu and Ghulkin valleys in the Hunza River basin(HRB)of the Karakoram through multitemporal Landsat satellite data between 1995 and 2022.We found a significant reduction in snow cover in these valleys,with an average reduction rate of 0.42 km~2/yr,resulting in a total reduction of~11.46 km~2 between 1995 and 2022.This reduction in snow cover is consistent with the mass loss of glaciers in the Karakoram region in recent years.The decline in snow cover in these valleys is also consistent with the meteorological data.The temperature in summer(June)has significantly increased whereas the precipitation in the accumulation season(March)has decreased.These rapid changes suggest that it is crucially important to monitor the snow cover on a regular basis to support downstream management of snowmelt runoff.In addition,there is a need of planning for mitigation and adaptation strategies for snow-related hazards.

Rangeland Privatization and Its Impacts on the Zoige Wetlands on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau

The high Zoige Basin (Ruoergai Plateau) on the eastern Tibetan Plateau is a fault depression formed during intensive uplifting of the Tibetan Plateau. The wetland is globally important in biodiversity and is composed of marshes,bogs,fens,wet meadows and shallow water interspersed with low hills and sub-alpine meadows. Most of the Zoige wetlands have long been one of the most important grazing lands in China. Recent rangeland policy has allowed grazing,and usable wetland areas have been being legally allocated to individuals or groups of households on a long-term lease basis. Privatization of the wetland has impacted the Zoige wetlands in aspects of hydrologic condition,landscape and biodiversity. The uneven spatial distribution of water resources on private lands has led to the practice of extracting ground water,which has decreased the perched water table in Zoige. Fencing off the rangelands and grazing on expanding sand dunes have affected landscapes. Variation in the water table has led to the changes in vegetation diversity,resulting in the changes in wildlife and aquatic diversities and ecosystem processes. Making use all year round of the pasture that was previously grazed only in summer has shrunk the daily activity space of wildlife,and the newly erected fences blocked the movement of wild animals looking for food in the snow to lower and open areas. To maintain the favorable conditions of the Zoige wetland ecosystem,the author suggests that,in addition to biophysical research and implementation of conservation practices,there is an immediate need to initiate an integrated management program,increase public awareness of wetland functions and provide better training for the local conservation staff.

Spatio-temporal changes in the six major glaciers of the Chitral River basin(Hindukush Region of Pakistan)between 2001 and 2018

Glaciers in the northern Pakistan are a distinctive source of freshwater for the irrigation,drinking and industrial water supplies of the people living in those regions and downstream. These glaciers are under a direct global warming impact as indicated in many previous studies. In this study, we estimated the glacier dynamics in terms of Equilibrium Line Altitude(ELA), mass balance and the snout position variation using remote sensing data between 2001 and 2018. Six glaciers, having area≥ 20 km2 each, situated in the Chitral region(Hindukush Mountains) were investigated in this study. Digital Elevation Model(DEM) and available cloud-free continuous series of Landsat and Sentinel satellite images from minimum snow cover season were used to monitor the variability in the studied glaciers by keeping the status of glaciers in year 2001 as a reference. The annual climatic trends of mean temperature and total precipitation from Chitral weather station were detected using the nonparametric Mann-Kendall’s test. Results revealed a general increase in the ELA, decrease in the glacier mass balance and the retreat of snout position.Average upward shift in the ELA for the entire study area and data period was ~345 ± 93 m at a rate of^13 m.a-1 from the reference year’s position i.e.~4803 m asl. Estimated mean mass balance for the entire study area indicated a decline of-0.106 ± 0.295 m w.e. a-1. Periods of snout retreat and advance in different glaciers were found but the mean value over the entire study area was a retreat of-231 ± 140 m.No obvious relationship was found between the glacier variation trends and the available gauged climatic data possibly due to the presence of debris cover in ablation zones of all the studied glaciers which provides insulation and reduces the immediate climatic effects.

Erratum to:Spatio-temporal changes in the six major glaciers of the Chitral River basin(Hindukush Region of Pakistan)between 2001 and 2018

The article Spatio-temporal changes in the six major glaciers of the Chitral River basin(Hindukush Region of Pakistan)between 2001 and 2018,written by Jawaria GUL,Sher MUHAMMAD,LIU Shi-yin,Siddique ULLAH,Shakeel AHMAD,Huma HAYAT and Adnan Ahmad TAHIR,was originally published Online First without Open Access.After publication in volume 17,issue 3,page 572-587,the author decided to opt for Open Choice and to make the article an Open Access publication.Therefore,the copyright of the article has been changed to C The Author(s)2020 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),which permits use,duplication,adaptation,distribution and reproduction in any medium or format,as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s)and the source,provide a link to the Creative Commons license,and indicate if changes were made.The original version of this article has been revised due to a retrospective Open Access order.

Landslide Distribution and Processes in the Hills of Central Nepal: Geomorphic and Statistical Approach to Susceptibility Assessment

The study examined the landslide distribution, processes, and susceptibility of the Lalbakaiya watershed using GIS and remote sensing technology. Inventory of landslides was done using high-resolution satellite imagery available on Google Earth and was verified and further investigated during the field visit. Geomorphic as well as statistical approaches were applied to assess landslides susceptibility and the significance of their outputs was discussed. Map layers representing conditioning and triggering factors of landslide occurrence were produced from various spatial data sources. The study found that the landslide of the Lalbakaiya watershed is primarily controlled by geology representing young, weak, fragile, and weathered sedimentary rocks. Besides, the role of topography such as steep slope, high relative relief, and land use and land cover played an important role in determining the landslide susceptibility. These processes are triggered by monsoon precipitation, seismicity, and land use change in addition to other factors. The geomorphic approach produces a reliable landslide susceptible map as evidenced by past and present (active) failures on a landscape unit, but this map has low predictability of the landslides occurrence. In contrast, the landslide susceptibility map derived from the landslide index method fairly conforms with that derived from the geomorphic approach. Susceptibility calculated by landslide index map is represented by a pixel value that indicates a probability of landslides occurrence, and is amenable to group into various susceptible classes. The model can predict areas of landslides based on quantitative relation between landslides and geo-ecological factors. The limitation of this approach is that these susceptible areas do not represent clearly defined landscape units, and can also overlook highly erodible areas where landslides are not apparent despite severe erosion and numerous minor failures. The study confirms that both geomorphic and statistical approaches can be complementarily integrated to produce predictable, reliable, and applicable landslide susceptibility maps that can make a plausible planning tool for conservation, development, and disaster risk reduction in the populated slopes of the Himalayas and like.