Trees, forests and people: The Central Himalayan case of forest ecosystem services

In the Central Himalayan mountains forest ecosystems occupy over two-third of the landscape. People of the region largely depend upon a variety of ecosystem goods and services (ES) emanating from these forest ecosystems for their subsistence living. The rich diversity of Central Himalayan forests harbors over 675 wild plant species used by people as food/edible, meets the protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamin and mineral requirement, fuelwood, fodder, fiber, resin, gums and medicinal plants for sustaining life that also accrue immense economic wealth to the nation and generate employment and income to the rural people. In addition, they provide a large sink for atmospheric CO₂ and thus contribute to the climate change mitigation. These forests vary considerably from each other with respect to structure and functioning, and the seasonality and magnitude of flow of ES. However, in the recent decades owing to changing livelihood avenues and increasing developmental aspirations the forested landscapes are facing landuse change for infrastructure development such as urban sprawl, road network, hydro-projects and other activities. These activities along with unsustainable use of natural resources is leading to degradation of forests and decline in ES, jeopardizing agri-sylvi-pastoral forest-based livelihood of the rural people. Thus, rural society at large is facing confrontation between subsistence living, environmental conservation and developmental imperatives. Policy makers are looking for compensatory mechanisms in lieu of the bygone opportunity cost of landuse conversion for developmental activities. The immediate challenge is how to take the intangible services of the forest ecosystems into accounting of state domestic product as valuation of ES and payment mechanism is still developing. This article depicts linkages among ecology, economy and society and figure out complexities and challenges in quantification and valuation of ES from the standpoint of both academic and policy making, and calls for ecologists and economists to work together to provide sustainable solutions for environmental conservation and sustainable development in the Himalayan region.