| Sanction Date: | 09.08.2024 | |||
| Project Category | MG | |||
| Year | 2024-2025 | |||
| Project Duration | 3 Year | |||
| BTA : | Biodiversity Conservation and Management | |||
| Project Site/ State/ Districts/ Villages Covered: |
Himachal Pradesh |
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| Organization/ Implementation Agency: | Punjab University, Chandigarh | |||
| Project Partners: | S.No. | Name | ||
| 1 | Himachal Pradesh Forest Department, Talland, Shimla 171001 | |||
| Lead Proponent: | Dr. Daizy R. Batish
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| Project Brief Description: | Biodiversity has a significant role in climate change mitigation as studies suggest that more-diverse systems could be more resilient to climate change impacts. Several studies have indicated that terrestrial ecosystems are more prone to changes in species structure and their composition due to global warming mediated by unsustainable human activities, mainly land-use changes such as expansion of croplands and developmental activities like urbanization, road widening, tourism, and industrial developments, etc. The interactive effects of these stressors may lead to novel species composition, structure, and functions in different ecosystems. The alterations in composition and physical structure of terrestrial vegetation can mess up the ecosystem services and overall ecosystem functioning. Mountains, covering only ~12% of the Earth's land surface, support >85% of the world's fauna and ~1/3rd of the floral diversity. Several biodiversity hotspots are in mountain regions including Himalayas. Around 50% of humankind depends on mountain resources and nearly 20% resides there, as mountains provide a variety of ecosystem services. Mountain biota is unique as it changes rapidly over short horizontal distances. Nowadays plant invasion by alien species in the mountain regions is a major concern. The increasing anthropogenic interventions in the form of developmental activities are leading to the creation of wastelands. These wastelands are acting as the incubation centers for the alien species, helping them to get established and naturalized (due to lack of competition and other factors), and thus, accelerating the invasion in the mountain regions. Invasive plants can displace native species and alter the structure and functioning of plant communities, thus, severely hampering the ecosystem productivity and health. Previously it was thought that mountain regions owing to their harsh climatic conditions, particularly in the alpine areas, are not vulnerable to alien plant invasions, but recent research has indicated that the alien species are shifting upwards towards alpine regions. Under changing climatic scenario, there is a high chance of the emergence of several novel alien species (neo-invasives) becoming invasive with the passage of time. This is really a worrisome situation and needs urgent attention. The native people residing in the mountain region play a major role in the protection of these vulnerable ecosystems by acting as custodian of the mountain ecosystems. The traditional knowledge and indigenous practices developed by native people over the centuries play a key role in ecosystem resilience and sustainable mountain resource management. Different forest management activities such as afforestation, reforestation and reduced deforestation practices showed variable responses to the climate change adaptations. However, there is a need to strike the balance between the developmental activities and mountain resource conservation under the changing climate scenario. For this purpose, mountain ecosystems can act as a natural laboratory for assessing the interactive impact of climate change and development activities on species responses and socioeconomic conditions of a region. Moreover, promotion and restoration of native species in anthropogenically managed developmental project areas with the help of indigenous people is the urgent need of the hour. With this background information, the present work has been proposed to be conducted in a mountainous state (viz., Himachal Pradesh) situated in the Himalayan region of India and also one of the important biodiversity hotspots. | |||
| Beneficiaries/ Stakeholders: | Inclusion of local communities to make them aware about the consequences of neo-invasives and their control measures can be a suitable strategy for their judicious management in the IHR. Further, alien plant inventories are necessary for understanding the extent, causes and consequences of plant invasions and these inventories provide baseline information required for the management of invasive species. |
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| Activity Chart (For 3 years) | ||||
| Total Grants (in Rs.) | Rs. 98,46,000 (Rupees: Ninety Eight Lakh Forty Six Thousand Only) | |||
| 1st Installment (in Rs.) : | Rs. 24,61,500 (Rupees: Twenty four lakh sixty one thousand five hundred only) [25% of Total Project Cost] | |||
| Project Objectives | Quantifiable Deliverables | Monitoring Indicators |
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• Identification of plant species particularly neo-invasives associated with different developmental activities. • Ecological analysis of plant species along/around the development sites such as hydropower, urban and industrial, tourism development, road construction projects etc. • Awareness and judicious management programmes by involving local communities highlighting the risks of neo-invasives. • To explore alternative uses of invasives/neo-invasives for their sustainable management. • To formulate effective policy framework by involving local Government officials/agencies. |
• Comprehensive database on Neo-Invasive Plant Species including Information on the ecology of neo-invasive species, present in the vicinity of developmental projects. • Assessment report on the potential of neo-invasive to become invasive in the near future. • Awareness building among forest staff and local people about the consequences of neo-invasives and their control measures. • Judicious management of such species (having substantial biomass) as value-added products with the help of traditional knowledge of locals and modern technological interventions. |
• No. of Datasets/ Database: Neo-invasive species and other essential ecological parameters (Nos.); • No. of the Developmental Project Sites covered (Nos.); • No. of Analytical/ Assessment Reports: (Nos.); • No. of value-added products from neo-invasives (Nos.); • No. of Programme Manuals (Nos.); • No. of Policy Frameworks involving local govt. official and agencies (Nos.); • No. of Technological Models/ Prototypes (Nos.); • Scope of Patent(s) and/ or Technological/ Industrial Transfer; • No. of Knowledge Products: Research articles, Book Chapters, Popular articles, etc. (Nos.); • Stakeholders Capacity Built: Trainings and Workshops along with beneficiaries (Nos.); |
| S.No. | Name (Sanctioned) | Salary (Sanctioned) |
| 1. | 3 JRF | @ 37,000/ pm |
| 2. | 3 SRF | @ 42,000/ pm |
| 3. | 1 Field Assistant | @20,000/ pm |
| S.No. | Name of Equipment (Sanctioned) | Cost (in INR) |
| 1. | Statical Software, Workstation, portable weather station | 4,00,000/- |
