Earth observation satellite data-based assessment of wetland dynamics in the Kashmir Himalaya.

Earth observation (EO) technology offers enormous opportunities to assess the magnitude and patterns of spatial variability in wetlands over time. This study aims to assess the spatial and temporal changes in the wetlands of the Kashmir valley using multiple remote sensing satellite data products, Geographic Information System (GIS), and field observations. Moreover, role of major factors operating at different time scales including regional geology, climate, and human activities in driving the wetland change is presented. The dynamics of the wetlands are illustrated in the occurrence, seasonality, and recurrence of surface water, land cover transitions and loss patterns particularly for the period from 1984 to 2021. Constituting about 3% (495 Km2) of the total area, substantial and variable patterns of seasonal and annual changes are exhibited by the wetlands. The main transitions of the water surface reveal that 2% of the area has changed from permanent to seasonal; 8% is lost; 15% is new seasonal; 0.12% is permanently lost; and 0.3% is new permanent. About 22% of the area reveals increase in the intensity of water surface occurrence, whereas 44% shows no change, and 34% exhibits decrease. Bathymetric analysis suggests that the average depth of the wetlands ranges between 0.6 and 16.6 m. In general, alpine wetlands are relatively deeper and mostly static in their structure whereas those in the floodplain are shallow, fragmented, and showing signs of depletion during the assessment period. The results of this assessment will inform the policy on conservation and sustainability of wetlands in the Kashmir Himalaya.

Assessment of trends in climatic extremes from observational data in the Kashmir basin, NW Himalaya.

The present study aims to assess the recent changes and trends in the extreme climate indices in the Kashmir basin using the observational records from 1980 to 2016. The extreme climate indices were computed using the ClimPACT2 software and a total of 39 indices were selected for the analysis having particular utility to various sectors like agriculture, water resources, energy consumption, and human health. Besides adopting the station scale analysis, regional averages were computed for each index. In terms of the mean climatology, an increase has been observed in the annual mean temperature with a magnitude of 0.024 °C/year. Further, differential warming patterns have been observed in the mean maximum and minimum temperatures with mean maximum temperature revealing higher increases than mean minimum temperature. On the other hand, the annual precipitation shows a decrease over most of the region, and the decreases are more pronouncing in the higher altitudes. The trend analysis of the extreme indices reveals that in consonance with the rising temperature there has been an increase in the warm temperatures and decrease in the cold temperatures across the Kashmir basin. Furthermore, our analysis suggests a decrease in the extreme precipitation events. The drought indices viz., Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI), and Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) manifest decreasing trends with the tendency towards drier regimes implying the need for better water resource management in the region under changing climate.

Retraction of reconstructing disasters and adaptation scenario of nineteenth-century Kashmir.

The above article from Disasters, published online on 24 June 2019 in Wiley Online Library (http://wileyonlinelibrary.com) has been withdrawn by agreement between the authors, the Journal Editors, Sara Pantuliano, John Twigg, Helen Young and Matthew Foley, and John Wiley & Sons Ltd., on behalf of Overseas Development Institute. Reference Ahmad, B., Alam, A., Bhat, M. S. and Bhat, K. A. (2019), Reconstructing disasters and adaptation scenario of nineteenth-century Kashmir. Disasters. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/disa.12364.

Integrated approach for prioritizing watersheds for management: a study of lidder catchment of kashmir himalayas.

The Himalayan watersheds are susceptible to various forms of degradation due to their sensitive and fragile ecological disposition coupled with increasing anthropogenic disturbances. Owing to the paucity of appropriate technology and financial resources, the prioritization of watersheds has become an inevitable process for effective planning and management of natural resources. Lidder catchment constitutes a segment of the western Himalayas with an area of 1,159.38 km(2). The study is based on integrated analysis of remote sensing, geographic information system, field study, and socioeconomic data. Multicriteria evaluation of geophysical, land-use and land-cover (LULC) change, and socioeconomic indicators is carried out to prioritize watersheds for natural resource conservation and management. Knowledge-based weights and ranks are normalized, and weighted linear combination technique is adopted to determine final priority value. The watersheds are classified into four priority zones (very high priority, high priority, medium priority, and low priority) on the basis of quartiles of the priority value, thus indicating their ecological status in terms of degradation caused by anthropogenic disturbances. The correlation between priority ranks of individual indicators and integrated indicators is drawn. The results reveal that socioeconomic indicators are the most important drivers of LULC change and environmental degradation in the catchment. Moreover, the magnitude and intensity of anthropogenic impact is not uniform in different watersheds of Lidder catchment. Therefore, any conservation and management strategy must be formulated on the basis of watershed prioritization.

Assessing indigenous community's perspectives and attitudes toward tourism development impacts in the northwestern Himalayas, India.

An assessment and monitoring of tourism impacts coupled with community perception have emerged as a vital tool for ensuring the sustainability of mountain tourism destinations in recent years. The present study aims to explore the indigenous community's perspectives on tourism impacts and their participation in the process of tourism development at Doodhpathri, an emerging tourist resort in Jammu and Kashmir, India. A non-probability convenience sampling method based on 344 questionnaires has been used to accomplish the research objectives. Inferential statistics and factor analysis were employed to analyze the collected data. Our assessment reveals that in general, tourism is viewed as a development industry. Its positives are better perceived than its negatives, given that it generates employment prospects, boosts household income, improves the image of the area, and raises the indigenous community's standard of living. However, a substantial portion of the population living in the area perceives tourism activities as the cause of multiple environmental and biophysical issues, such as increased waste generation leading to pollution and water quality deterioration. On the whole, most of the residents were positive about future tourism development and optimistic about tourism management practices. However, the area has recently observed a voluminous influx of both local and foreign tourists, which necessitates the formulation of a sustainable tourism planning strategy.

Recent flood hazards in Kashmir put into context with millennium-long historical and tree-ring records.

In September 2014, the Kashmir valley (north-west India) experienced a massive flood causing significant economic losses and fatalities. This disaster underlined the high vulnerability of the local population and raised questions regarding the resilience of Kashmiris to future floods. Although the magnitude of the 2014 flood has been considered unprecedented within the context of existing measurements, we argue that the short flow series may lead to spurious misinterpretation of the probability of such extreme events. Here we use a millennium-long record of past floods in Kashmir based on historical and tree-ring records to assess the probability of 2014-like flood events in the region. Our flood chronology (635 CE-nowadays) provides key insights into the recurrence of flood disasters and propels understanding of flood variability in this region over the last millennium, showing enhanced activity during the Little Ice Age. We find that high-impact floods have frequently disrupted the Kashmir valley in the past. Thus, the inclusion of historical records reveals large flood hazard levels in the region. The newly gained information also underlines the critical need to take immediate action in the region, so as to reduce the exposure of local populations and to increase their resilience, despite existing constraints in watershed management related to the Indus Water Treaty.