Managing Ecosystem Services for Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in the Hindu Kush Himalayas - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 216

conservation to landscape level within last three decades (Sharma et al. 2010).
As of 2007, there were 488 protected areas (IUCN category I-VI) within the
region, covering more than 1.6 million km 2 , representing about 39% of the
region's terrestrial area (Chettri et al. 2008a). Interestingly, the proportion of
terrestrial area covered by the protected areas in the region is much higher
(39%) than in Central America (26%) (Chape et al. 2005). Such growth in
the number and areas of protected areas is a signifi cant achievement on the
part of the region countries towards fulfi lling their global commitment to
conservation. Interestingly, the analysis showed that the protected areas in
the HKH have adopted a shift away from strictly managed protected area
systems to community based, as also observed by Zimmerer et al. (2004).
Several recent initiatives in the region offer signifi cant opportunities for
advancing and piloting innovative and regionally appropriate conservation
and adaptation approaches. In particular, the importance of biodiversity
conservation in protected areas, corridors and transboundary landscapes
focussing on climate resilience by maintaining ecosystem integrity for
enhancing flow of environmental goods and services have been the
thrust for ICIMOD since last one decade. Here are some examples on the
reconciling initiatives piloted by ICIMOD in the HKH.
Landscape/ecosystem approach in biodiversity conservation
Landscape/Ecosystem approach in biodiversity conservation is an evolving
concept (Worboys et al. 2010). The concept has emerged primarily out of
recognition that strict protection through a network of protected areas (e.g.,
national parks, sanctuaries, wildlife reserves) is an essential but insuffi cient
biodiversity conservation strategy (Naughton-Treves et al. 2005, Ervin
2011). These researchers and others argue that protected areas are essential
as these are the places where biodiversity conservation is the primary
objective. However, many of the existing protected areas are too small to
meet the ecological needs of viable population of wide ranging species
in the changing climate (Ibisch et al. 2010). Thus, more than preserving
isolated patches of sustained wilderness in the form of protected areas, the
focus is now more on the necessity of maintaining landscape integrity, of
viewing and conserving ecosystems as part of larger agro-ecological and
socio-cultural landscapes to withstand the challenges posed by climate
change (Worboys et al. 2010).
Application of landscape or ecosystem approach, as advocated by
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), recognizes the need of
increased regional cooperation, in part due to the biophysical nature of
these mountainous areas, the extreme heterogeneity of the region, inter-
linkages between biomes, habitats and sectors, and the strong upstream
-downstream linkages related to the provisioning of ecosystem services.