000 02383nam a22002297a 4500
003 JGU
005 20231006020022.0
008 230213b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020 _a9780674971745
_qhbk.
040 _beng
_cJGU
041 _aeng
100 _aPandit, Maharaj K.,
_91638386
_eauthor
245 _aLife in the Himalaya :
_ban ecosystem at risk /
_cMaharaj K. Pandit.
260 _aCambridge :
_bHarvard University Press,
_c2017.
520 _a"The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates around fifty million years ago profoundly altered earth’s geography and regional climates. The rise of the Himalaya led to intensification of the monsoon, the birth of massive glaciers and turbulent rivers, and an efflorescence of ecosystems along the most extreme elevational gradient on Earth. When the Ice Age ended, humans became part of this mix, and today nearly one quarter of the world’s population inhabits its river basins, from Afghanistan to Myanmar. Life in the Himalaya examines the region’s geophysical and biological systems and explores the past and future of human sustainability in the mountain’s shadow. Maharaj Pandit divides the Himalaya’s history into four phases. During the first, the mountain and its ecosystems formed. In the second, humans altered the landscape, beginning with nomadic pastoralism, continuing to commercial deforestation, and culminating in pockets of resistance to forest exploitation. The third phase saw a human population explosion, accompanied by road and dam building and other large-scale infrastructure that degraded ecosystems and caused species extinctions. Pandit outlines a future networking phase which holds the promise of sustainable living within the mountain’s carrying capacity. Today, the Himalaya is threatened by recurrent natural disasters and is at risk of catastrophic loss of life. If humans are to have a sustainable future there, Pandit argues, they will need to better understand the region’s geological vulnerability, ecological fragility, and sociocultural sensitivity. Life in the Himalaya outlines the mountain’s past in order to map a way forward."--
650 _aNature--Effect of human beings on
_9772612
650 _aHimalaya Mountains Region
_91637723
650 _aEcosystem management
_9148209
999 _c3053423
_d3053423