Ladakh to have a new regional centre to study Himalayan ecology and conserve its fragile ecosystem

NEW DELHI: Underlining importance of conserving entire Himalayan ecology through research-based approach, the Centre has approved setting-up of a new regional centre of the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development in newly created Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh.
The move will expand the R&D outreach of the Institute in entire trans-Himalayan zone of Indian Himalaya. It will help not only in better understanding of its landscape but also in developing strategies for addressing issues of environmental conservation, peoples livelihoods and sustainable development under changing scenario due to climate change.
The new regional centre of the Institute, having headquarters at Kosi-Katarmal in Uttarakhand, was approved by the Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar on the eve of the birth of Ladakh as new UT on Wednesday.
The Ladakh centre will be the fifth regional centres of the Institute which has been involved in studying the Indian Himalayan Region and suggesting best ways to conserve the fragile ecosystem amid severe threats to its ecology due to global warming.
The other four regional centres of the Institute are located at Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), Srinagar (Uttarakhand), Pangthang (Sikkim) and Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh).
“The Ladakh regional centre will foster climate smart communities in the trans-Himalayan landscape and also strengthen and establish approch for addressing issues of water scarcity in the cold desert,” said an official, underlining how people have to face hardship in the region characterised by extreme cold climate and minimal rain.
A recent report of the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on ocean and cryosphere indicated how the global warming has led to constant melting of Himalayan glaciers and how the phenomena would ultimatelyRead More – Source