Environmental Geography of South Asia: Contributions Toward a Future Earth Initiative PDF
Preview Environmental Geography of South Asia: Contributions Toward a Future Earth Initiative
Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences R.B. Singh Pawel Prokop Editors Environmental Geography of South Asia Contributions Toward a Future Earth Initiative Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences Serieseditor Dr.R.B.Singh AIMSANDSCOPE Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences synthesizes series diagnostigationandprognostication ofearthenvironment,incorporating challeng- ing interactive areas within ecological envelope of geosphere, biosphere, hydro- sphere, atmosphere and cryosphere. It deals with land use land cover change (LUCC), urbanization, energy flux, land-ocean fluxes, climate, food security, ecohydrology, biodiversity, natural hazards and disasters, human health and their mutualinteractionandfeedbackmechanisminordertocontributetowardssustain- able future. The geosciences methods range from traditional field techniques and conventional data collection, use of remote sensing and geographical information system,computeraidedtechniquetoadvancegeostatisticalanddynamicmodeling. Theseriesintegratepast,presentandfutureofgeosphericattributesincorporat- ing biophysical and human dimensions in spatio-temporal perspectives. The geosciences, encompassing land-ocean-atmosphere interaction is considered as a vital component in the context of environmental issues, especially in observation and prediction of air and water pollution, global warming and urban heat islands. It is important to communicate the advances in geosciences to increase resilience of society through capacity building for mitigating the impact of natural hazards and disasters.Sustainability ofhumansociety dependsstronglyonthe earth envi- ronment, and thus the development of geosciences is critical for a better under- standingofourlivingenvironment,anditssustainabledevelopment. Geosciencealsohastheresponsibilitytonotconfineitselftoaddressingcurrent problemsbutitisalsodevelopingaframeworktoaddressfutureissues.Inorderto build a ’Future Earth Model’ for understanding and predicting the functioning of the whole climatic system, collaboration of experts in the traditional earth disci- plinesaswellasinecology,informationtechnology,instrumentationandcomplex system is essential, through initiatives from human geoscientists. Thus human geosceinceisemergingaskeypolicyscienceforcontributingtowardssustainabil- ity/survivalitysciencetogetherwithfutureearthinitiative. Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences series publishes books thatcontainnovelapproachesintacklingissuesofhumangeoscienceinitsbroadest sense – books in the series should focus on true progress in a particular area or region.Theseriesincludesmonographsandeditedvolumeswithoutanylimitations inthepagenumbers. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13113 R.B. Singh • Pawel Prokop Editors Environmental Geography of South Asia Contributions Toward a Future Earth Initiative Editors R.B.Singh PawelProkop UniversityofDelhi PolishAcademyofSciences Delhi Krakow India Poland ISSN2198-3542 ISSN2198-3550 (electronic) AdvancesinGeographicalandEnvironmentalSciences ISBN978-4-431-55740-1 ISBN978-4-431-55741-8 (eBook) DOI10.1007/978-4-431-55741-8 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015950343 SpringerTokyoHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon ©SpringerJapan2016 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained hereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerJapanKKispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Preface SouthAsiaisadistinctgeographicalregionwithanincrediblediversityofnatural environment having the world’s highest mountain belt – the Himalayas of India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bhutan – stretching along the entire northern border of the region. The region comprises the Himalayas, the alluvial plains of the Indus and Ganga–Brahmaputrariversystems,andtheuplandsoftheDeccanPlateauinIndia, togetherwith the central hill massifofSri Lanka. The region is surrounded inthe southbythreemarineecosystems:theArabianSea,theIndianOcean,andtheBay ofBengal.Theseasonalalterationofatmosphericflowpatternsbetweenlandmass and sea, associated with the monsoons, frequently cause severe floods, droughts, andmassmovementsoverlargeareasofSouthAsia.Althoughtheregionoccupies only4.8%oftheworld’stotallandarea,ithasapopulationof1.67billion(23.8% of the world’s total), growing at the rate of 1.8 % per annum. Thus, vulnerable natural features of environment combined with the high population density, rapid economicdevelopment, andcorresponding competition for agriculturalandurban landaswellaswaterresourceshaveenormoussocietalconsequences.Theeffects ofthesenatural–humaninteractionsarenotlimitedonlytotheSouthAsianregion buthaveanimpactonenvironmentandsocietyonaglobalscale. ThisbookontheenvironmentalgeographyofSouthAsiacomprisesaselectionof paperspresentedatthesessiononthenaturalenvironment,climatechange,disasters, andtheirimpactonhumansocietyinSouthAsiaduringtheInternationalGeograph- icalUnion(IGU)RegionalConference,heldinKrakow,Poland,18–22August2014. TheconferencewasorganizedbytheInstituteofGeographyofthePolishAcademy of Sciences and seven other geographical research institutions in Poland. A few invited papers are also included here to cover all dimensions of environmental geography. The book consists of 19 chapters that contribute to better recognition andunderstandingofrapidcivilizationdevelopmentinthecontextofbothregional andglobalenvironmentalchanges.Thusthisvolumeintegratesattributesrelatingthe past, present, and future of South Asia broadly based on biophysical and human dimensionsinspatio-temporalperspectives.Climatechange,spacebornemonitoring, andmitigationofnaturalhazardsareconsideredvitalcomponentsinthecontextof v vi Preface environmental issues, especially in observation and prediction of extreme climate events,land-usechangesleadingtolanddegradation,andurbanization. Thecontri- butionsrangefromtraditionalfieldtechniquesandconventionaldatacollectiontothe useofremotesensingandgeographicinformationsystems. We hope that the present volume will deepen the awareness of numerous changesinbothnaturalandhumansystemsthatsignificantlyinfluencethepresent and future well-being of South Asian societies in general. The increasing impor- tance of interdisciplinary research is the best tool to combine the different approacheswithknowledgeandtechniquesfromparticularbranchesofgeography. We believe that the book will also be beneficial to people in other fields such as geology, ecology, environmental sciences, tourism, disaster management, and urban studies. We hope, that this volume stimulates further research and that these topics will continue to be focal points for future geographical research at global,regional,andnationallevels. We would like to thank the IGU officers and the members of the Conference Organizing Committee. We appreciate the hard work of the contributors and referees of the papers both for their time and their early responses. We are also thankful to Dr. Ajay Kumar for providing assistance. We wish to express our deepest thanks to Ms. Taeko Sato from Springer Japan for all the help provided inthepublicationprocessofthisbook. Delhi,India R.B.Singh Krakow,Poland PawelProkop Contents PartI Introduction 1 DisasterMitigationandManagementandImportanceofEarth Observation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 AnupamAnandandJyotheshwarNagol 2 ExclusionaryUrbanisationinSouthAsia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 DebolinaKundu PartII India 3 PrioritizingWatershedsforSustainableDevelopmentinSwan CatchmentArea,HimachalPradesh,India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 AmitKumarBatar,R.B.Singh,andAjayKumar 4 DeglaciationandImpactofExtremeRainfallsonRecentRelief TransformationoftheUpperPindariValley:TheKumaun Himalaya,India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 ZofiaRa˛czkowskaandRameshCh.Joshi 5 RiverbedsLevelChangesintheMarginandForelandofthe DarjeelingHimalayaDuringtheYearswithaNormalMonsoon Rainfall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 ŁukaszWiejaczka 6 BioclimateoftheAndamanIslandsandItsImpactontheLives oftheNativeandNon-nativePopulationsoftheArchipelago. . . . . 97 MaciejKe˛dzierskiandDominikGargol vii viii Contents 7 SpatialandTemporalVariationsofRainfallintheSouthernPart oftheMeghalayaPlateau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 DominikGargolandRomanSoja 8 RainfallStructureforCherrapunjeeandMawsynraminNortheast India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 RomanSoja,MałgorzataJuszczyk,andJoannaNowakowska 9 LandUseandLandCoverChangesintheAreawiththeHighest RainfallintheWorld(MeghalayaPlateau,India):Causesand Implications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 PawełProkop 10 MaximumFlowandMaximumSpecificFlowinaSmallCatchment AffectedbyanExtremeRainfallNearCherrapunjeeinNortheast India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 TomaszBryndalandRomanSoja 11 AltitudinalZonationofFloralBiodiversityandItsConservation PatterninMizoram,North-EastIndia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 VishwambharPrasadSatiandLalrinpuiaVangchhia 12 TheDistributionandManagementofForestsinArunachalPradesh, India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 KazuharuMizuno 13 InstitutionalDimensionsandChangingRoleofForestManagement GovernanceinDehradunValley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 PoonamKumria,R.B.Singh,andKoichiKimoto 14 OrganicAgriculturefromthePerspectiveofSmallFarmers’ LivelihoodStrategies:TwoCasesfromCentraland SouthIndia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 RieMakita 15 IntegratedCoastalZoneManagementinNorthKanara Coast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 AshokKumarandAnjuSingh PartIII OtherSouthAsianCountries 16 AnthropogenicandEnvironmentalDisturbanceFactorsinthe AnnapurnaConservationAreaofNepal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 N.G.Pricope,J.D.All,andL.Miles 17 MangroveDiversityAcrossSalinityGradientinNegombo Estuary-SriLanka. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 C.M.KanchanaN.K.Chandrasekara,K.D.N.Weerasinghe,Sumith Pathirana,andRanjanaU.K.Piyadasa Contents ix 18 Nepal:UrbanEnvironmentAnalysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 PushkarK.PradhanandPuspaSharma 19 FightingFloodsforSurvival:ExperiencesofSufferingPeople inBangladesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 TulshiKumarDas
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