Managing Mountain Biodiversity for better lives

Mountains are storehouses of biodiversity due to their great variety of habitats and life zones and mountain people have developed highly diverse cultures and land use systems. The present rate of intensification of human resource use puts this unique biological and cultural heritage at risk of extinction. However, encouraging approaches for mountain biodiversity management exist, that serve both biodiversity conservation and human needs.

The following examples from around the world show how biodiversity management in mountains can be implemented successfully in a sustainable way.

Africa

South-Africa: Conservation of Biodiversity in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountain Range

The Maloti-Drakensberg mountain range, situated between Lesotho and South Africa, is globally important for biodiversity conservation. It is high in endemism (247 plant species) and is functionally an important area for water production. However, extensive areas are threatened by excessive livestock grazing, increased cultivation on steep mountain slopes, unseasonal burning and invasion of alien plant species. In the communal rangelands of Mnweni, a biodiversity study showed that species richness was significantly lower (63 species) than adjacent conserved areas (89 species). In the conserved areas a biennial spring burn resulted in high overall diversity in contrast to annual burning and protection from fire. Long-term conservation of the region's biodiversity depends on community involvement in establishing grazing management strategies, environmental management and protected area management. The initiation of job creation for conservation and monitoring programmes is a significant step in addressing the socio-economic needs of the local people while at the same time addressing threats to biodiversity such as unsustainable use of natural resources and soil erosion.

Read more: Everson T.M. & Morris C.D. (2006) Conservation of Biodiversity in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountain Range. In: Land use change and Mountain Biodiversity. E.M. Spehn, M. Liberman, Ch. Körner (eds.). CRC Press. Taylor and Francis Group. Boca Raton, USA.

Conservation Landscapes to safeguard mountain biodiversity: The Case of the Kigezi Highlands, Southwestern Uganda

Conservation landscapes that include biodiversity sanctuaries within a pattern of agricultural and other land uses have been increasingly recognized as an instrument for achieving both biodiversity management and improvement of local livelihoods. The Kigezi Highlands in Southwestern Uganda are an example of such a conservation landscape. These highlands include the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP), a World Heritage Site which features an exceptional diversity of flora and fauna and is home to half of the population of the world's remaining mountain gorillas. Despite intensive use and a high population density of over 250 people per km2, the regional agricultural production system supports biodiversity management, based on a wide variety of crops and agroforestry. Close to one-fourth of the 324 woody species found in the BINP can also be found in the agricultural landscape as farmers are deliberately planting trees on farms. Thus the native tree species in the BINP further enhance farm tree diversity, wood cover and the livelihoods of local farmers.

Read more: Mountain Research and Development Vol25/3:212-218. 2005)

Asia/Pacific

Hindu-Kush-Himalayas: Indigenous Honeybees- conserving biodiversity and increasing farm productivity

More than 90 percent of the mountain population of the HKH region depend primarily on small scale subsistence agriculture and natural resources for their livelihood. Indigenous honeybees significantly contribute to the livelihood of mountain people. However, there is clear evidence that wild honeybees' species are on decline, due to overexploitation, loss of foraging possibilities and nesting habitats and parasite introduction by the import of exotic bee species. A Project on Indigenous Honeybees in the Himalayas was implemented in Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Using a community based approach to conserve biodiversity and to increase farm productivity", the project revealed the crucial role of indigenous honeybees for sustainable livelihood of mountain people by honey and wax production, and most importantly, crop pollination. Apiculture of Apis cerana, the only species of indigenous bees, which can be managed for pollination and for bee products, offers real possibilities for the creation of sustainable livelihoods, while maintaining biodiversity and providing incentives for the conservation of habitats.

Read more: http://bees4livelihood.icimod.org

Himalaya; India: Medicinal plant cultivation and sustainable development

Due to their high level of biological and cultural diversity, the Himalayas act as a storehouse for a whole range of medicinal plants, most of which are collected at high altitudes. The Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in the western Himalaya is such an example, hosting a vast biological and ethnic diversity. The Bhotiya, a tribal community, whose livelihood is highly dependent on local natural resources, cultivates medicinal plants on their agriculture fields in the buffer zone of the Biosphere Reserve. A survey revealed greater economic return of medicinal plant cultivation compared to traditional cash crops. a reduced pressure on high-altitude forests, and conservation of indigenous knowledge about medicinal hebs among the Bhotiya. Encouragement of medicinal plant cultivation at high altitudes in the Himalayas would therefore help to generate better monetary returns as well as conserve these herbs in the wild and preserve traditional ethnomedicinal knowledge among local people.

Read more: Silori CS, Badola R (2000) Medicinal plant cultivation and sustainable development - A case study in the buffer zone of the Nanda Devi Bioshere Reserve, Western Himalaya, India Mountain Research and Development 20 (3):272-279

Latin America

Payments for Environmental Services (PES): Experience in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua

Mountain communities often derive few or no benefits from mountain biodiversity management. The end result is that biodiversity is lost, as are other benefits such as the regulation of water flow. Payment for Environmental Services (PES), which compensates local land users for environmental services, has increasingly been used to manage biodiversity in mountains in recent years. For example, the Regional Integrated Silvopastoral Project, initiated by local NGOs and financed by GEF, uses PES to encourage silvopastoral practices in degraded pastureland in the mountains of Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Participating land users receive direct annual payments for the environmental services they generate. To provide payments that are proportional to the services provided, the project developed indices of biodiversity management services. Since its inception in 2003, the project has made average payments of USD 350-550 per farm per year. Initial results show that PES has induced positive land use changes such as improved water quality and increased bird and ant species diversity.

Read more: Mountain Research and Development, Vol.25/3:206-211. 2005)

Andes, Peru: Huascaran Biosphere Reserve

The FOCAL Project (Strengthening Local Capacities for Conservation and Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions) integrated conservation and livelihood projects in Andean mountain communities where landscapes are deeply transformed by historic uses. Communities living near Huascaran National Park in the Peruvian Andes depend for their livelihood on access to grasslands and other resources and therefore are primary stakeholders in any conservation effort. This project took place in the Cordillera Blanca with a rich biodiversity of both plant and animal life, the dependence of people on natural resources and the uncertain fate of the many communities located in this zone whose livelihoods are being invariably altered by social and economic change. The project aimed at conservation of landscapes, species and ecosystems through the rational use of natural resources; and development, both social and economic, generated by environmentally sustainable activities.

Read more: http://www.mountain.org/work/andes/huascaran01.cfm

Andes, Venezuela: Andean Páramo Project

In the highly diverse region of the tropical Andean páramos, threats to ecosystem integrity come mainly from agriculture and cattle grazing. Approaches to biodiversity conservation have often been based on top-down regulations imposed by government agencies. In two Venezuelan sites, during the design phase of the Andean Páramo Project, an alternative approach has been implemented. This approach incorporated local communities in the design of action plans for conservation, addressing the complex links between biodiversity conservation, land use strategies and human welfare. The success of this alternative approach was associated with the local population’s great interest in and detailed knowledge of the ecosystem, as well as the emphasis on empowerment through incorporating local knowledge as the basis for planning.

Read more: Llambi et al (2005) Mountain Research and Development Vol 25(3): 200-205

Europe

Switzerland:Landscapes, habitats and biodiversity in the Swiss Alps

Socio-economically motivated land use changes are a major threat for species diversity of grasslands throughout the world. A comprehensive study in the species-rich cultural landscape of the Swiss Alps explored how cultural traditions, in addition to land use and topography, shape grasslands plant diversity. All observed recent land use changes reduced the farmers' workload and ongoing changes in land use reduced plant species richness. Grassland biodiversity in the Alps is best conserved by diverse land use with a high proportion of unfertilized mown and grazed grassland. However, considering the ongoing socio-economically motivated changes in landuse, moderate grazing can be a valuable alternative to abandonment. Financial incentives will most effectively protect man-made biodiversity and thereby economic and esthetical ecosystem services to society if they aim at high land use diversity in villages.

Read more: Maurer K, A Weyand, M Fischer, and J Stöcklin (2006) Biological Conservation 130: 438-446
http://www.nrp48.ch/projects/projects.php?mod=2.

North America

Colorado: Rocky Mountains: Nitrogen critical loads for alpine vegetation and terrestrial ecosystem response

A longterm study in the Colorado Rocky Mountains empirically estimated the ecological critical load from nitrogen for alpine vegetation and showed how excess nitrogen deposition caused harm to mountain ecosytems (loss of diversity and acidification of surface waters). This has prompted the State of Colorado, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Park Service to develop strategies to reverse current deposition trends and ultimately conserve the integrity of these fragile mountain ecosystems. It is an example of a region valuing its mountain biodiversity and acting to protect it.

Read more: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/resources/spotlight/itsintheair/
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ap/rmnp.html
Baron J S (206). Hindcasting nitrogen deposition to determine an ecological critical load. Ecological Applications, 16(2), 2006, pp. 433-439
Bowman WD, JR Gartner, K Holland, M Wiedermann (2006) Nitrogen critical loads for alpine vegetation and terrestrial ecosystem response: are we there yet? Ecological Applications 16(3): 1183-1193.