Climate Change and its Impacts on Community Food and Livelihood in Kumaun Himalaya: A Case Study of Dabka Catchment - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 273

Hydro-informatics module
The hydro-informatics module consists of daily, monthly and annual
record of spring hydrology and stream hydrology of study area. To assess
the geo-hydrological impacts of climate change and land-use degradation
on mountain ecology a comprehensive study carried out for under
groundwater table, spring discharge and stream discharge throughout
the study area during 2005-2010 and then compared the results with the
previous study carried out during 1985-1990 (Bisht 1991, Rawat et al. 2011).
Agro-informatics module
The agro-informatics module appraises the integrated impacts of climate
change, land-use degradation and hydrological hazards (drought, fl oods,
soil erosion and landslides) on community food and livelihood through
negative impacts on agricultural ecosystem, i.e., reduced irrigation facilities,
changing crop pattern, decreasing production rate, reducing livestock and
milk production, etc. This module carried out through extensive household
surveys and then compared the results with village level census data of
India for 1981 and 2011.
Results and Discussions
Trends of climate change in lesser Himalaya
The climate-informatics module consists of the comparative study of
climatic parameters for a 20 year period during 1990 to 2010 to appraise the
impacts of climate change on land-use pattern because it reversely infl uences
the ecology of the watershed and accelerated several environmental and
socio-economic risks through high runoff, erosion and sediment delivery
during the rainy season. Monthly and annual climate data records of two
study periods is used to climate spatial distribution mapping for respective
year (Table 11.2 and Fig. 11.3). A brief account follows:
Temperature: The five-station and five-year average mean annual
temperature of the Dabka watershed was 19ºC in 2005-2010 and about
17ºC in 1985-1990 (Table 11.2) although it varies by elevation throughout
the study area. May is the driest and hottest month and has the highest
temperature especially on south-facing barren land, whereas January is
the coldest month and has the lowest temperature in the year. The average
maximum annual temperature was 37ºC in 2005-2010, whereas it was only