Download Lecture 1 Introduction and Mountain characteristics

Mountain Environment and Sustainable Development
Introduction
Location and Extent
Mountain Characteristics
What is Mountain?
It is difficult to describe the Mountain than to climb instead!!
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Literature on Mountains is extensive and voluminous. Yet, there is no rigorous definition of
universal acceptance of what constitutes a mountain.
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Most discussions on Mountains and their development merge the concept of montaigne (Old
French, meaning a considerable height)
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According to Geoffrey Winthrop Young: “ Earth set on earth little higher” thus it is relative and
subjective- that is, whatever strikes fire in the imagination. Therefore, one person’s mountain is
another person’s knoll (Hillock).
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Mountain is not an amorphous mass but a composite elevation zones.
 Pahad: Hill without snow
 Lekh: Ridge with winter snow
 Himal: Range with permanent snow
All the mountains that we see in Nepal are the result of: tectonic forces, the principle one being the
impact of Gondwana Plate thrusting beneath the Angara plate. This collision is expressed in the great
axes of folding from east to west.
The Himalayas: Two continents collide
Among the most dramatic and visible creations of plate-tectonic forces are the lofty
Himalayas, which stretch 2,900 km along the border between India and Tibet. This
immense mountain range began to form between 40 and 50 million years ago, when
two large landmasses, India and Eurasia, driven by plate movement, collided. Because
both these continental landmasses have about the same rock density, one plate could
not be subducted under the other. The pressure of the impinging plates could only be
relieved by thrusting skyward, contorting the collision zone, and forming the jagged
Himalayan peaks.
About 225 million years ago, India was a large island still situated off the Australian
coast, and a vast ocean (called Tethys Sea) separated India from the Asian continent.
When Pangaea broke apart about 200 million years ago, India began to forge
northward. By studying the history -- and ultimately the closing-- of the Tethys,
scientists have reconstructed India's northward journey. About 80 million years ago,
India was located roughly 6,400 km south of the Asian continent, moving northward at
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a rate of about 9 m a century. When India rammed into Asia about 40 to 50 million
years ago, its northward advance slowed by about half. The collision and associated
decrease in the rate of plate movement are interpreted to mark the beginning of the
rapid uplift of the Himalayas.
The 6,000-km-plus journey of the India landmass (Indian Plate) before its collision with Asia
(Eurasian Plate) about 40 to 50 million years ago (see text). India was once situated well south of
the Equator, near the continent of Australia.
The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to the north have risen very rapidly. In just 50
million years, peaks such as Mt. Everest have risen to heights of more than 9 km. The
impinging of the two landmasses has yet to end. The Himalayas continue to rise more
than 1 cm a year -- a growth rate of 10 km in a million years! If that is so, why aren't
the Himalayas even higher? Scientists believe that the Eurasian Plate may now be
stretching out rather than thrusting up, and such stretching would result in some
subsidence due to gravity.
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Sunset view of towering, snow-capped Mt. Everest, from the village of Lobuche (Solu-khumbu),
Nepal. (Photograph by Gimmy Park Li.)
Fifty kilometers north of Lhasa (the capital of Tibet), scientists found layers of pink
sandstone containing grains of magnetic minerals (magnetite) that have recorded the
pattern of the Earth's flip-flopping magnetic field. These sandstones also contain plant
and animal fossils that were deposited when the Tethys Sea periodically flooded the
region. The study of these fossils has revealed not only their geologic age but also the
type of environment and climate in which they formed. For example, such studies
indicate that the fossils lived under a relatively mild, wet environment about 105
million years ago, when Tibet was closer to the equator. Today, Tibet's climate is
much more arid, reflecting the region's uplift and northward shift of nearly 2,000 km.
Fossils found in the sandstone layers offer dramatic evidence of the climate change in
the Tibetan region due to plate movement over the past 100 million years.
At present, the movement of India continues to put enormous pressure on the Asian
continent, and Tibet in turn presses on the landmass to the north that is hemming it
in. The net effect of plate-tectonics forces acting on this geologically complicated
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region is to squeeze parts of Asia eastward toward the Pacific Ocean. One serious
consequence of these processes is a deadly "domino" effect: tremendous stresses build
up within the Earth's crust, which are relieved periodically by earthquakes along the
numerous faults that scar the landscape. Some of the world's most destructive
earthquakes in history are related to continuing tectonic processes that began some
50 million years ago when the Indian and Eurasian continents first met.
Normally Ranges and Plateaus that exceed 1,000 masl have been considered as mountains.
Asian Context:
It is estimated that some 40 Million sq. km or 27% of the total land area of the world lies above 1,000
masl.
 24 M Km2 at 1,000- 2,000 m
 10 M Km2 at 2,000- 3,000 m
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6 M Km2 at > 3,000 m
Another source put the total area worldwide, defined as “mountain type”, to be 50M Km 2 which comes
around 35% of total area of world (definition: 0-300m as hills; 300-900m as low mountain; and >900m
as high mountain.
Table: Distribution of Mountain Types
Mountain Type
Elevation range
High Mountains (>900m)
Africa
Australia
Eurasia
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1
13
11
28
p231
12
12
25
Low Mountains(300-900m)
Hills (0-300m)
Total
Source: Trewartha et.al. 1968,
Mountain Environment:
South
America
11
World
23
North
America
16
21
10
54
10
18
44
11
5
27
14
8
35
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Apart from the structure and relief major components that influence the physical environment is:
a) Climate; b) Soils and c) Vegetation
Mountains of Asia encompasses a wide variety of climatic regions as they span a great latitudinal range:
 High altitude at the center of the continent: where the climate varies with elevation, latitude,
exposure, tending mostly toward temperate to Alpine
 Subarctic (Eastern Russia): with low precipitation and very long winter.
 Tropical Islands of S-E Asia where all months are warm or hot with diurnal rain.
 Semi arid to Arid in West Asia
 Wet and dry tropical in the South; and
 Temperate marine climate of South Australia and New Zealand.
Cultural diversity in Mountains:
 Mountain areas are generally considered as refuges or havens of minority peoples
Human occupancy in Mountains:
 Marginal areas for Human occupancy due to harsh environment and poor soil
 In Asia, the highlands have the least density (population)
Agriculture in Mountains:
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Nomadic herding (Central and west Asia)
Rangelands sustains the economy
Shifting cultivation (highland of South to SE Asia)
Rudimental sedentary farming (low rainfall areas- West Nepal)
Intensive subsistence tillage (rain fed in humid regions and based in the irrigation)
Plantation agriculture, in which tea, coffee and other cash crops Highlands of colonial past
Forests in Mountains:
 Forest constitute and important resources in the Asian Mountains
 Vast stretch of Coniferous and mixed forests in the north, sub-tropical forest in the Himalayas
and South China, and semi-deciduous monsoon and tropical rainforest in the south-east
Minerals:
 Minerals occurs mainly outside the Alpine fold system on older rock formations
 Central Asia and eastern Australia has: Iron, copper, tin, lead, zinc, gold and silver
 India, Korea and West Australia has Iron
 Tin is mined in SE Asia
 Copper is mined in Japan
Hydropower:
 Tremendous potential (Japan and China has exploited well)
 Others are starting
Tourism:
 High mountains are centers of explorations
 Few areas generate major sources of income to hill people (khumbu, Mustang,Manang)
 Expanding economic activity
Problems of Mountain Environment:
Mountain environments are, in fact, often very fragile and susceptible to great disruption, through:
The rapid felling of forests is laying open to vast areas;
- Growth of population is resulting the farming of sub-marginal land and over grazing; or
- Out-migration of the people leaving behind deterioration of settlements and lands;
- Road building, hydro-electric development and increased tourism contributing changes in the
landscape and socio-economic structures.
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Chapter 2 a.
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Mountain Perspective
Mountain perspective implies explicit or implicit consideration of specific
mountain circumstances and their implications while conceiving and implementing private or public
activities in mountain areas at different levels of decision-making.
Elaboration on these specificities of mountain habitats and resources.
Mountain Characteristics
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The important conditions characterizing mountain areas which, for operational purposes, separate mountain
habitats from other areas are called here ' mountain specificites' or mountain Characteristics.
The six important mountain specificities (some of which might be shared by other areas such as deserts in
the plains) are considered here.
First order:
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The first four, namely, inaccessibility, fragility, marginality, and diversity or
heterogeneity.
Second Order:
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Natural suitability or 'niche' (including man-made ones) for some activities/products in
which mountains have comparative advantages over the plains and,
'human adaptation mechanisms' in mountain habitats
The latter are different from the former in the sense that they are responses or adaptations to first order
specificities. But nevertheless, they are specific to mountain (Jodha 1989a
it should be noted that these characteristics are not only interrelated in several ways but within the mountains
they show considerable variability. For instance, all locations in mountain areas are not equally inaccessible,
fragile, or marginal. Neither do human adaptation mechanisms have uniform patterns in all mountain habitats.
With full recognition of such realities we may briefly introduce the mountain specificities.
Inaccessibility:
 Due to slope, altitude, overall terrain conditions, and periodical seasonal hazards (e.g.landslides, snow,
storms, etc.) inaccessibility is the most known feature of mountain areas
 Its concrete manifestations are isolation, distance, poor communication, and limited mobility. Besides the
dominant physical dimensions, it has socio-cultural and economic dimensions
Fragility:
 Mountain areas, due to altitude and steep slopes in association with geologic, edaphic, and biotic factors
that limit the former's capacity to withstand even a small degree of disturbance, are known for their fragility
 When mountain resources and environment start deteriorating due to any disturbance, it happens at a fast
rate. In most cases, the damage is irreversible or reversible only over a long period (
Marginality:
 This may apply to physical and biological resources or conditions as well as to people and their
sustenance systems.
 The basic factors, contributing to such a status of any area or community, are remoteness and physical
isolation, fragile and low- productivity resources
 The mountain regions, being marginal areas in most cases as against prime areas, share the above
attributes of marginal entities and suffer the consequences of such status in different ways
 Several entities acquire marginal status when they are linked to dominant entities on unequal terms. In
several cases mountain areas has to pass through this process.
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Diversity or heterogeneity:
 In mountain areas, one finds immense variations among and within ecozones, even within short distance.
 This extreme degree of heterogeneity, in the mountains, is a function of interactions of different factors such
as elevation, altitude, geologic and edaphic conditions, steepness and orientation of slopes,
wind and precipitation, mountain mass, and relief of terrain
 The biological adaptations and socioeconomic responses to the above diversities also acquire a measure of
heterogeneity of their own
 Diversity acts as a positive attribute for the interlinked activity patterns and should serve as true basis for
assessing mountain areas' carrying capacity.
'Niche' or comparative Advantage:
 Owing to their specific environmental and resource-related features, mountains provide a 'niche' for
specific activities or products.
 At the operational level, mountains may have comparative advantages over the plains in these
activities. Examples may include a specific valley serving as the habitat for special medicinal plants;
mountains acting as source of unique products (e.g. some fruits, flowers etc); and Mountains serving as the
best known sources of hydro-power production.
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In practice, however, niche or comparative advantages may remain dormant unless circumstances are
created to harness them. However, mountains, owing to their heterogeneity, have several, often narrow but
specific niches, which are used by local communities in the course of their diversified activities
 Proper harnessing of niches can support sustainability while their reckless exploitation can result in
elimination of niches.
Human Adaptaion-Mechanisms:
 Mountains, through their heterogeneity and diversity, even at micro level, offer a complex of constraints and
opportunities.
 Mountain communities, through trial and error over the generations, have to handle them
 Mountain characteristics are modified (e.g. through terracing and irrigation) to suit their needs or activities
are designed to adjust the requirements to mountain conditions (e.g. by zone specific combination of
activities, crops, etc).
 Adaptation mechanisms or experiences are reflected through formal and informal arrangements for
management of resources, diversified and interlinked activities to harness micro-niches of specific ecozones,
and effective use of upland - lowland linkages
 Adaptation mechanisms helped in the sustainable use of mountain resources in the past. However, with the
changes, related to population, market, and state, a number of adaptation mechanisms are losing
their feasibility and efficacy. It may be noted that understanding their rationale can help in the search for
sustainability.
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