Managing Ecosystem Services for Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in the Hindu Kush Himalayas - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 217

Seven critical 'Transboundary Landscapes' have been identifi ed by ICIMOD
(Fig. 9.1), highlighting the crucial role of improved cooperation amongst the
countries of the region to enhance understanding the value of biodiversity
and the potential impacts of environmental change on ecosystem goods
and services. In these initiatives, ICIMOD is promoting transboundary
cooperation for research and long term monitoring on both ecological and
environmental aspects at a landscape level and piloted in a number of
transboundary landscapes since late 1990s (see Sherpa et al. 2003, Sharma
and Chettri 2005, Sharma et al. 2007, Zomer et al. 2010).
Figure 9.1. Map showing transbounday landscapes and transects in the HKH.
Color image of this figure appears in the color plate section at the end of the topic.
Trans-Himalayan Transect approach
Climatic, environmental and other change processes across the HKH have
both regional and global concerns (Messerli 2009). Nevertheless, the HKH
is one of least scientifi cally studied or monitored areas in the world, and
a 'data-defi cit' region (IPCC 2007). Basic hydro-meteorological data are
lacking, sparse or not readily available. This is true for other environmental
data, e.g., biodiversity, land-use and land cover change, climate change
impacts on various ecosystem goods and services, and carbon cycles. An
improved understanding of these regional change processes is essential