| Feedback | | NMHS Portal | | HIMAL | | Jal Abhyaranya | | Fight against COVID-19 | || |LiFE-Lifestyle for Environment|

National Mission on Himalayan Studies
Implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC)
Nodal and Serving hub with G.B. Pant "National Institute of Himalayan Environment"(NIHE)


The Indian Himalayan Region – The Target Area

With geographical coverage of over 0.53 million km2 area, the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) constitutes nearly 17% of country's geographical area and contributes greatly to richness and representativeness of its biodiversity components at all levels (i.e., genes, species and ecosystems). Although the region represents only about 4% of total human population of the country, it exhibits great diversity of ethnic groups (e.g., 171 out of a total 573 reported scheduled tribes in India), often inhabiting remote and inhospitable terrains. The diversity of biophysical features in IHR is adequately represented through representation of 3 bio-geographical zones and 9 bio-geographic provinces (Table).

Table: Diversity of biophysical features in IHR
Bio-geographic Zones Bio-geographic Provinces % of geographical area of India Major Biome Representation
Trans Himalaya 1A: Ladakh Mountains 3.3 Tundra
1B: Tibetan Plateau 2.3 Alpine
1 C: Sikkim Trans Himalaya < 0.1 Alpine, Tundra
The Himalaya 2A: North west Himalaya 2.1 Alpine, Temperate, Sub Tropical
2B: West Himalaya 1.6 -do-
2C: Central Himalaya 0.2 -do-
2D: East Himalaya 2.5 -do-
Northeast India 9A: Brahamputra Valley 2.0 Tropical Evergreen Forest, Very Moist Sal Forest, Tropical Grass Lands
9B: Northeast Hills 3.2 Tropical evergreen, Tropical Moist Deciduous, Subtropical, Montane Temperate, Wetlands
Source: Rodgers and Panwar, 1988; Rodgers et al., 2000 (Wildlife Institute of India).


More Information