Bhagwat, Shonil

Mountain Research and Development

English

Open Research Online 

Open Research OnlineThe Open University’s repository of research publicationsand other research outputs[Book Review] Global Change, Biodiversity andLivelihoods in Cold Desert Region of AsiaJournal ItemHow to cite:Bhagwat, Shonil (2012). [Book Review] Global Change, Biodiversity and Livelihoods in Cold Desert Region ofAsia. Mountain Research and Development, 32(1) pp. 99–100.For guidance on citations see FAQs.c© 2012 The AuthorVersion: Version of RecordLink(s) to article on publisher’s website:http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1659/mrd.mm092Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyrightowners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policiespage.oro.open.ac.ukBioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, researchlibraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research.Global Change, Biodiversity and Livelihoods in Cold Desert Region of AsiaAuthor(s) :Shonil BhagwatSource: Mountain Research and Development, 32(1):99-100. 2012.Published By: International Mountain SocietyDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1659/mrd.mm092URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1659/mrd.mm092BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, andenvironmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books publishedby nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance ofBioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use.Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiriesor rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder.Global Change,Biodiversity andLivelihoods in Cold DesertRegion of AsiaEdited by K. G. Saxena, Luohui Liang,and Xian Xue. Dehra Dun, India:Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh,2011. xvi + 322 pp. J 35.00, US$50.00, INR 1495.00, direct order:bsmps@vsnl.com. ISBN 978-81-211-0780-8.Global Change, Biodiversity and Liveli-hoods in Cold Desert Region of Asia is aninterdisciplinary collection of arti-cles on global change in the colddesert areas of China, India, Mongo-lia, Nepal, and Tajikistan. This regionincludes high-mountain Himalayaand the Tibetan Plateau, which oftenare of altitudes .5000 masl; thisregion is referred to as the ‘‘Roof ofthe World.’’ The volume is edited byIndian and Chinese authors, and hascontributions from Chinese, German,Indian, Japanese, Norwegian, andTajikistani academics, researchers,and practitioners. It consists of pa-pers presented at an internationalworkshop organized jointly in 2008by the United Nations University,Tokyo, Japan, Jawaharlal Nehru Uni-versity, New Delhi, India, ZoologicalSurvey of India, High Altitude Re-search Station, Solan, India, and theCold and Arid Regions Environmen-tal and Engineering Research Insti-tute of the Chinese Academy ofSciences, Lanzou, China, to identifyknowledge gaps in making regionalconservation and development poli-cies more effective.This volume does indeed make asubstantial contribution to filling theknowledge gap in this relativelypoorly studied region. The contentsituates itself well to address theconservation-development nexus andis divided logically into 3 broadsections, each dealing with a theme:(1) climate, soil, and biodiversity,which introduces conservation issues;(2) land use change and livelihoods,which identifies the challenges; and(3) environmental conservation,which explores the opportunities.The final chapter attempts to presenta synthesis. Although this division islogical, the volume could have bene-fited from an introductory chapterthat places the edited work in con-text, although the preface serves thatrole to some extent. Some editorialcommentary opening and closingeach section would also have beenbeneficial. Notwithstanding the factthat the volume covers a very broadgeographic area, maps of the studyregion are conspicuously lacking. Asummary map that indicates thestudy sites spread across the region aswell as schematic maps that indicatethe location of study sites consideredin each chapter would have beenenormously beneficial to readers.Chapters 1–11 focus on climate,soil, and wild biodiversity. This sec-tion includes studies as wide-rangingas the reconstruction of the Himala-yan climate over the past 2000 years,by using tree-ring records, to fish andfisheries in the cold deserts of theIndian Himalaya. The section alsohas studies on classification andcharacterization of soil resources,perspectives on conservation, andutilization of wild biodiversity ofplant communities and some groupsof invertebrates and vertebrates. Thesection introduces the physical envi-ronment of this cold desert regionand illustrates, with case studies,some aspects of its biota. The meth-ods used by the authors are as wideranging as the topics themselves andinclude climate modeling, dendro-chronology, species inventories, andsoil analysis. Some studies also de-velop taxonomic classifications forpoorly studied organisms, whereasothers estimate population sizes ofwell-surveyed organisms.Chapters 12–23 form the secondsection, which focuses on the chal-lenges. These include rapidly chang-ing land use in the region and itsimplications for sustaining liveli-hoods and ecosystems. Studies tackleagro-ecosystems and pastoral land-scapes, and examine issues that sur-round their management and con-servation. References can be foundto indigenous knowledge systems,their value for modern-day resourcemanagement, and challenges posedby the erosion of this knowledge.This section makes the reader awareof the challenges that face environ-mental conservation and sustainabledevelopment in this region. Methodsare wide ranging and includeanalysis of data from agriculturalcensus, questionnaire surveys, andsemistructured interviews, resourceassessment, archival research, andethnographic techniques to under-stand indigenous knowledge systems.Some studies also use methodsthat compare landscapes at variousscales: farm, village, district, andregion.Chapters 24–30 form the thirdsection, which identifies opportunitiesfor environmental conservation andsustainable development of this re-gion. Studies examine prospects forimproving peoples’ livelihoods andimproving ecosystem management tofind win–win solutions for environ-mental conservation. Case studies in-clude the role of apricot in environ-mental conservation in cold and aridhighlands in Ladakh, where the au-thors demonstrate that apricot culti-vation can enhance the rural economywhile apricot trees also provide shelterand food for wildlife. In other chap-ters, the authors explore new animalhusbandry systems to enhance range-land management in the cold desert ofnorthwest Tibet. Case studies in thissection are based on successful exam-ples of resource management that canbe replicated elsewhere in the region.The 31 chapters, on a wide varietyof topics, from past climate to futuremanagement of rangelands and fromrural livelihoods to sustainable tour-ism, provide an introduction to awide variety of issues in the colddesert region of Asia. However, thisbreadth of issues means that the bookis not able to go deeply into anyof the issues, and its division into31 chapters makes it somewhatMountainMediaMountain Research and Development (MRD)An international, peer-reviewed open access journalpublished by the International Mountain Society (IMS)www.mrd-journal.orgMountain Research and Development Vol 32 No 1 Feb 2012: 99–100 http://dx.doi.org/10.1659/mrd.mm092  2012 by the authors99fragmented. The book is written bymore than 60 authors and, as aconsequence, there are inconsisten-cies in writing and referencing styles;some chapters use only a handful ofreferences to outside literature,whereas other chapters provide ex-tensive bibliographies. Furthermore,readers would have benefited enor-mously from a summary at thebeginning of each chapter, alongwith a schematic map of the regionthat points to the geographicallocation of the study. Despite theseminor shortcomings, this volumeprovides a much-needed baselineinventory of the cold desert region ofAsia, or at least parts of this vastgeographical region. Although theindividual contributions may not besuitable as stand-alone research arti-cles in peer-reviewed journals, col-lectively, the volume provides a use-ful reference. For those interested inconducting research in this region onthe conservation-development nexus,this volume is a ‘‘one-stop shop’’ andis worth purchasing for the libraryshelf.AUTHORShonil Bhagwatshonil.bhagwat@ouce.ox.ac.ukSchool of Geography and the Environment,University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UnitedKingdomOpen access article: please credit the authors andthe full source.MountainMediaMountain Research and Development http://dx.doi.org/10.1659/mrd.mm092100

[Book Review] Global Change, Biodiversity and Livelihoods in Cold Desert Region of Asia

Shonil Bhagwat

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Global Change, Biodiversity and Livelihoods in Cold Desert Region of Asia

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[Book Review] Global Change, Biodiversity and Livelihoods in Cold Desert Region of Asia

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