Global Change and Mountains: Consequences, Responses and Opportunities - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 118

geographical of the area of the Andean countries, are highly crucial for the
livelihoods and economies on the Andean countries. However, increasing
population pressure, changes in land use, unsustainable exploitation
of resources, and climate change are now having far-reaching adverse
impacts on ecosystem goods and services of the Andean countries (Stern
et al. 2006). Declining fl ows of water from mountains will decrease the
availability of freshwater for drinking, sanitation and food production,
and consequently will have serious implications for water, health, food and
livelihood security of downstream communities dependent on subsistence
agriculture. Increasing water stress is expected to lead to political as well
as social confl icts, especially in arid and semi-arid areas which are highly
dependent on mountain water and particularly in trans-boundary river
basins, such as South Asia where as many as seven largest rivers of the
consentient have their sources in the mighty glaciers of the Hindu-Kush
Himalayan mountains. The recent investigations indicated that Himalayan
river basins in China, Bangladesh, India and Nepal will face massive water
depletion losing almost 275 billion cubic metres of annual renewable water
in the next two decades. Depletion of water resources and resultant water
scarcity and effects of desertifi cation and soil erosion would decline food
production in China and India by as much as 50% by 2050, and consequently
both the countries will need to import more than 200 to 300 million tonnes
of wheat and rice within the next 20 years. These changes in the regime of
water resources are likely to displace millions of people leading to mass
migration and increased confl icts within and between countries (Himalaya
Post 2010). This will have enormous regional implications for fundamental
human endeavours ranging from poverty alleviation to environmental
sustainability and climate change adaptation, and even to human security
in a large part of the world. The increase in air temperature is likely to
expand malaria and other diseases to higher altitudes in both Africa and
Latin America.
Global Change and Emerging Opportunities in Mountains
Changing climatic conditions, particularly changes in temperature and
precipitation patterns and other processes of global changes have increased
the vulnerability of mountain communities to various natural and socio-
economic risks and posed serious environmental as well as developmental
threats on the one hand, and created several opportunities and possibilities
for the sustainable development of mountain regions and well being of
their people on the other. The emerging opportunities include conservation
of biodiversity and genetic resources, growing demand for high-value
mountain niche products, such as, eco-tourism, hydro-energy generation,
carbon trading, compensation for ecosystem services and production of