Education for sustainable development to develop a climate smart and disaster resilient community in the Indian Himalayan region Abdhesh Kumar Gangwar Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and RCE Srinagar, India E-mail: abdhesh.gangwar@ceeindia.org INTRODUCTION Climate change is happening at a much faster rate than expected. It has also been recognized that climate change exacerbates underlying vulnerabilities of the communities to the hazards they normally experience as well as generate new hazards which a community may have no experience of handling. Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction go hand in hand; both aim to reduce the impacts of threats by anticipating risks and uncertainties and addressing vulnerabilities. Scaling up of Disaster Resilience and Relief (DRR) activities and interventions will contribute significantly to climate change adaptation. Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) extends up to 12 states-Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and the hilly districts of Assam and West Bengal-covering 121 districts of the total 686 (as of 2016) districts of India. IHR comprises of 16% of the country’s geographical area. The region supports 47,076,046 people constituting 3.88% of India’s population (2011 census). IHR represents a fragile ecosystem attributed to altitude, deep slopes, geological, edaphic and biotic factors limiting its capacity to withstand even small degrees of fluctuation. For centuries, the ecological balance of the mountain ecosystem was sustained supporting incredible biodiversity in the region. The Himalayan Region represents a self-sustaining economy. Inhabitants are dependent on flora, fauna, and other natural resources native to the Himalayas for their life and livelihoods. Since the past century, the Himalayas have undergone major changes. Population explosion, influx of tourism and incoming urbanization have resulted in the over-exploitation of natural resources, reduced forest cover, increased soil erosion and silting of water bodies, drying- up of rivers and streams and loss of biodiversity. Tourism has emerged as a major industry in the region resulting in development of roads and rampant infrastructure development. All these variables have been significant in contributing to the already occurring climate change at an unprecedented rate. 336 Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
Proceedings of International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals : Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016 at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
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