National Action Plan Biodiversity Persistence and Climate Change
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NATIONAL ACTION PLAN BIODIVERSITY PERSISTENCE AND CLIMATE CHANGE BHUTAN National paper on biodiversity persistence and climate change 2011 0 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1. Importance of Biodiversity ....................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2. Biodiversity of Bhutan ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3. Policy environment ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2: Climate change trends ................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1. Observed changes in climate parameters .............................................................................................................. 7 2.2. Community observations on impacts of climate change on biodiversity ................................................... 9 Chapter 3: Observed impacts and Threats of climate change ........................................................................... 12 on Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................................................ 12 3.1. Disruption of ecosystem and ecosystem services ............................................................................................ 12 3.2. Loss of species. ........................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.3. Increased establishment of invasive species ...................................................................................................... 17 3.4. Increased risk of forest fire ..................................................................................................................................... 18 3.5. Loss of agro-biodiversity ......................................................................................................................................... 18 3.6. Increased incidences of pests and diseases ........................................................................................................ 20 3.7. Loss of livelihood, traditional knowledge and practices (“Biocultural” loss). ....................................... 21 Chapter 4: Current gaps in understanding and addressing ............................................................................... 22 climate change impacts on biodiversity ....................................................................................................................... 22 4.1. Lack of comprehensive data and knowledge on biological diversity and climate change. ................ 22 4.2. Lack of convergence of policy and practice ...................................................................................................... 23 4.3. Weak linkages and coordination amongst stakeholders ................................................................................ 23 4.4. Lack of capacity in understanding and addressing climate change impacts on biodiversity. ............ 24 4.5. Lack of a sustained conservation financing mechanism ................................................................................ 25 Chapter 5: National Action plan .................................................................................................................................... 26 Goal 1: To strengthen documentation of biological diversity and climate parameters to understand climate change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. ....................................................................... 27 Goal 2: To minimize impacts of climate change on biodiversity to maintain ecosystem health and continuous flow of ecosystem services. ...................................................................................................................... 28 Goal 3: To minimize impacts of other stressors of biodiversity (invasive species, fire, pest and diseases, etc.) under changing climate. .......................................................................................................................................... 30 Goal 4: To enhance national capacity and resources to adapt to climate change impacts. ......................... 31 Goal 5: To promote effective coordination of biodiversity and climate change programs in the country. .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 33 National paper on biodiversity persistence and climate change 2011 1 Goal 6: To promote an enabling policy environment and mainstream biodiversity and climate change into national plans and programs. .................................................................................................................................. 34 Goal 7: To reduce the vulnerability of local communities to climate change impacts. ................................ 34 Table 3: National Action Log frame ............................................................................................................................. 36 Chapter 6: Institutional Arrangements ....................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 7: Regional Action plan .................................................................................................................................... 42 7.1: Rationale ....................................................................................................................................................................... 42 7.2 Action plan .................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Reference .................................................................................................................................................................................. 44 Annexure 2 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 50 Annexure 3 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 51 National paper on biodiversity persistence and climate change 2011 2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Importance of Biodiversity Biological diversity is vitally important for every sphere of human existence and provides us with a vast range of products and services. These are provisioning services, such as food, water, timber, fibre, genetic resources, and medicines; regulating services such as regulation of climate and, water and soil quality, and pollination; cultural services such as recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits; and supporting services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling. Biodiversity also plays a significant role in mitigating and adapting the impacts of climate change. Intact ecosystems such as forests and peat lands sequester carbon in their vegetation and soil thus supporting climate-regulating functions worldwide (Carlson et al , 2010, Amend & Ei βing, 2010). Loss of biodiversity is caused by several factors such as changes in land use, over exploitation of natural resources, destruction of natural habitats, urbanization, human wildlife conflict, forest fires, hydropower development, industrial development, invasive species, etc. Climate change will further exacerbate the effects of other stressors (CBD, 2009; MEA, 2005) and is likely to become the dominant direct driver of biodiversity loss by the end of this century. Biodiversity and climate change are closely linked and each impacts upon the other. Human-induced climate change threatens biodiversity and biodiversity loss heightens the impacts of climate change on population and ecosystems (Gitay et al , 2002, MEA, 2005). In addition, the impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems exerts significant feedbacks to the climate system, mainly through increase in soil respiration under increased temperature and reduced capacity to act as carbon sink (Campbell et al, 2009). 1.2. Biodiversity of Bhutan Bhutan straddles two major biogeographic realms, the Indo-Malayan and Palearctic and is part of the Eastern Himalayan region which contains parts of three global biodiversity hotspots, 60 ecoregions, 330 important Bird Areas, 53 Important Plant Areas, and a large number of wetlands and 29 Ramsar sites. (ICIMOD, 2010). Bhutan is home to a diverse array of flora and fauna National paper on biodiversity persistence and climate change 2011 3 including 5603 species of vascular plants, 400 lichens, 200 mammals and about 700 birds. In addition to the currently known 105 endemic plant species (Annexure 1), Bhutan also hosts a number of globally threatened species including 27 mammals (Annexure 2), and 18 birds (Annexure 3). The country has 70.46