National Mission on Himalayan Studies

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).