Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Ecological Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoleng

Landscape level ecological assessment and eco-restoration strategies for

alpine and sub-alpine regions of the Central Himalaya
Priyanka Maiti a, Jagdish Chandra Kuniyal a, *, K. Chandra Sekar a, K.V. Satish a, Dalbeer Singh a,
Nisha Bisht a, Anand Kumar a, Satish Chandra Arya a, Mahesha Nand a, R.C. Sundriyal b
a
G. B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, Uttarakhand, India
b
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Chauras Campus, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar (Garhwal), 249169, Uttarakhand, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The United Nation decade on ecosystem restoration has been recognized in global and regional policy com­
Eco-restoration of degraded areas mitments that play a crucial role towards restoring degraded areas with the continued provision of ecosystem
Development of socio-economic status services. Climate-sensitive alpine meadows are vital in this regard as they are facing a continuous threat of
Alpine pasture
degradation governed by both natural and anthropogenic drivers. The present work aims at the investigation of
Grazing
the ecological status and restoration strategies for alpine and sub-alpine areas of the Darma-Byans landscape in
Degradation
Anthropogenic pressure the Central Himalayan region of India. It is one of the important conservation landscapes identified under the
Adaptation SECURE Himalaya project of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP). Under the present work,
Mitigation strategies studies conducted regarding assessment strategies included: Land Use Land Cover (LULC) mapping, Normalized
Himalaya Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis, grazing capacity estimation, and final validation with secondary
data collection followed by the investigation of suitable eco-system based adaptation and mitigation strategies
for the area. Results showed the natural regeneration of biodiversity in the alpine meadows of the landscape.
Clear indications analyzed from the results depict that grazing pressure was below its capacity (20,897 cow units
per year); there was a decreasing trend in human population (in 15 villages) and livestock population (from 1987
by ~50% of the total population), tourists’ influx, and an increasing trend in NDVI in the area. However, the sub-
alpine areas are still facing the threat of extreme land degradation due to harsh climatic conditions, especially
extreme rainfall events. Therefore, sustainable site-specific eco-restoration strategies, viz., grazing, under-grazing
capacity, eco-tourism practice, soil erosion control by check dams and geo-coir matting followed by plantation,
sustainable resource utilization management practices, shepherd’s night staying sites, integrated agricultural
practices, etc. are also recommended for the region.

1. Introduction the process of degradation begins with over-grazing, insufficient forage

Degradation of alpine meadows is a complex grass-ecological process
that is induced by poor pasture establishment, and later by neglected
control accompanied by mismanagement activities that lose in­
vestments. Such type of degradation is a global threat documented in
many countries, including China, India, Japan, Sierra Leone, Vietnam,
etc. (Chen et al., 2021; Velayudham et al., 2021, Ling and Chigira, 2020;
Lahai et al., 2021; Gian et al., 2017). In India, especially in the Indian
Himalayan Region (IHR), frequently occurring land degradation events
are getting more attention from several researchers, as a number of them
are associated with devastating effects like ever-decreasing soil fertility,
water deficiency, etc. (Dikshit et al., 2020; Sarkar et al., 2015). Initially,
grasses, colonization of shrubs, etc. Pasture degradation is caused by
both natural factors, i.e., soil erosion, climate change, etc. as well as
anthropogenic factors like grazing, tourism, unfavorable socio-
economic conditions, etc. On the other hand, restoration of degraded
meadows takes place naturally due to the result of very slow secondary
succession and its respective above ground biomass accumulation
(Hohnwald et al., 2019).
The Himalayan rangelands are considered a global biodiversity
hotspot and come under one of the world’s most threatened regions
(Ingty, 2021). The alpine rangelands of the Himalaya provide monu­
mental ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, water storage,
provisioning, maintaining biodiversity, food security, and livelihoods.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jckuniyal@gmail.com (J.C. Kuniyal).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106674
Received 30 September 2021; Received in revised form 15 April 2022; Accepted 25 April 2022
0925-8574/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
P. Maiti et al.
Fig. 1. Geographical location of the important meadows (Bugyals) in the Darma-Byans landscape.
Nearly 33% of the geographical area in the Himalaya comes under the
alpine region, wherein a significant portion is covered by meadows.
They are broadly classified as alpine moist herbaceous meadows, and
alpine dry meadows dominated by graminoids, i.e., grasses and sedges
(Tiwari et al., 2021). In current days, extensive use of the natural re­
sources of alpine and sub-alpine areas leads to the depletion of natural
resources and habitat degradation. Activities like intensive agricultural
practices, over-grazing, temporary corrals for the seasonal stay of cattle,
unscientific and unsustainable harvesting of biodiversity resources such
as uprooting, clearing regenerating stock, etc. are the major responsible
factors of degradation. Over-stocking of livestock populations has been a
major cause of degradation and is also a major concern for the health
and sustainability of degraded habitats, including meadows in the Hi­
malayan landscapes. The degradation of meadows does not only affect
wild herbivores but also the productivity of the entire pasture (Ren et al.,
2021).
A total of 4949.25 km2 area of the Central Himalayan region of
Uttarakhand, India comes under different proportions of grass cover in
alpine areas. In case of alpine grasslands, over 1056 km2 grasslands are
reported with less than 10% grass cover indicating heavy degradation.
On the other hand, cold desert areas have only 565.69 km2 of area
indicating more than 60% of grass cover, which is considered to be
highly favorable for rich biodiversity and controlled grazing (Pandey
et al., 2021).
Ecosystem-based mitigation strategies play a vital role in reducing
the risk of disaster events sustainably (Rieux et al., 2021). During recent
days, some common practices used for land degradation adaptation and
mitigation in the IHR include: maintenance of natural drainage channels
both micro and macro in vulnerable slopes, leaving aside the ‘critical
zones’ with settlements, the establishment of permanent vegetation in
the ‘highly unstable zones’ of alpine and sub-alpine area, bio-
engineering, slope netting, check dams, etc. (Chawla et al., 2018;
Upreti et al., 2021).
The present work is focused on the assessment of the ecological
status in alpine and sub-alpine areas of the Darma-Byans landscape of
the Central Himalayan region of Uttarakhand and investigation of
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Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
concerned eco-restoration strategies. The alpine meadows and associ­
ated transhumant grazing communities of the area are facing the
extreme threat of climate change governed by events like extreme
rainfall, cloudburst etc., that makes the region climate sensitive (Kuniyal
et al., 2021a; Rawat and Schickhoff, 2022). The work was carried out in
terms of Land Use and Land Cover mapping (LULC), Normalized Dif­
ference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis, grazing capacity estimation,
final validation with secondary data collection, and investigation of
possible adaptation and mitigation strategies. LULC mapping together
refers to the categorization or classification of human activities and
natural elements on the landscape. LULC maps have a vital role in the
process of restoration planning, management and monitoring. Along
with the understanding of land utilization aspects, they also help to
develop the sustainable policies and programmes (Sekhar et al., 2022).
Further, assessment of NDVI is a worldwide accepted method because
good Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can be considered
as a direct indication of increased photo-synthetically active radiation
(PAR), net primary productivity (NPP), and depends on grazing in­
tensity (Liu et al., 2021b). Additionaly, the term grazing capacity, in­
dicates the maximum sustainable number of livestock that may be
grazed on a defined area within a defined period (Kuniyal et al., 2021b),
followed by ecological assessment using the above mentioned methods.
Suitable site-specific eco-restoration strategies are provided for the area.
They may be also implemented at the landscape level as well as in other
areas of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) for the development of
socio-economic status and eco-restoration of degraded areas.
1.1. Study area
The Darma-Byans landscape of the IHR is situated in the Pithoragarh
district of Uttarakhand, India (Fig. 1) and comes under the Kailash Sa­
cred Landscape. This valley is located in the eastern part of Uttarakhand,
India in the Kumaun division and lies between 80◦ 25′ to 80o 50′ E
longitudes and 30o 20′ to 30◦ 0′ N latitudes. The Darma landscape is
situated on the bank of the River Darma / Dhauliganga, which originates
from the Govan Khana glacier (5749 m) and has tributaries like the River
P. Maiti et al.
Darma Yangti and the River Lissar Yangti. It joins with the River Kali at
Tawaghat (Singh et al., 2018). Vital alpine meadows of the area include
Bedang (3964 m), Sipu (4043 m), Dhakar (3368 m), Dugtu (3672 m),
Nagling (3445 m), etc. covered by plants like Potentilla bifurca, Draco­
cephalum heterophyllum, Sibbaldia cuneata, Taraxacum officinale, Carex
obscura, Kobresia spp., etc. The Byans landscape is situated in the River
Kali valley and covers the alpine pasture of Kuti (3962 m), Garbyang
(3829 m), Kalapani (3379 m), Nabidhang (3717 m), Jolingkong (3607
m), Chhiyalekh (3502 m), etc. Plants like Tenaxia cachemyriana, Dolo­
miaea macrocephala, Iris kumaonensis, and Potentilla atrosanguinea are
reported from the area (Zomer and Oli, 2011).
2. Methodology
Assessment of the entire landscape was initially done by mapping the
meadows. Thereafter, vegetation analysis was done in 8 representative
meadows, i.e., Tidang (3503 m), Sipu (3771 m), Sangosthi (3749 m) and
Gabbe (3999 m) from the Darma landscape and Jeolinkong (4502 m),
Kuti (4010 m), Nabi (3876 m) and Garbyang (3495 m) from the Byans
landscape to understand the vegetation profile of the landscape followed
by NDVI analysis. Finally, secondary data related to human and live­
stock populations at the village level, resource utilization patterns and
the tourism status of the landscape were collected from the forest
department, district statistical handbook, department of animal hus­
bandry & dairying, tourism department in Pithoragarh and analyzed.
Further, web mining was done for the investigation of possible eco-
restoration strategies for the degraded area.
2.1. LULC mapping
Imagery of Sentinel 2B, 2017 (spatial resolution of 10 m) and LISS IV,
2011 and 2017 (spatial resolution of 5.8 m) were used for mapping the
alpine meadows of the area, grazing routes and other land covers. Arc­
Map 10.3 software was used for on-screen digitalization using UTM
projection 44 N Zone. Ground truth validation was done by using a
handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) during the field visit. The
Survey of India (SOI) Toposheets at a scale of 1:50,000 were georefer­
enced using Ground Control Points (GCPs). Consequently, the visual
image interpretation technique of classification was applied (Nguyen
et al., 2020).
2.2. Vegetation sampling and estimation of grazing capacity
In view of conducting phytosociological assessments, four sites were
selected from each landscape, i.e.,Tidang (3503 m), Sipu (3771 m),
Sangosthi (3749 m) and Gabbe (3999 m) in the Darma landscape and
Jeolinkong (4502 m), Kuti (4010 m), Nabi (3876 m) and Garbyang
(3495 m) in the Byans landscape. In each site, three 50 × 50 m (2500
m2) plots were randomly laid in the pasture area for sampling. In each
2500 m2 plot, thirty randomly placed quadrats of 1 × 1 m were taken for
herbs and five quadrats of 5 × 5 m for shrubs, as per the standard
phytosociological methods (Misra, 1968; Mueller-Dombois and Ellen­
berg, 1974). Simultaneously, the livestock carrying capacity of the
landscape was estimated as a measure of grazing capacity which might
be helpful in controlling grazing in the area. The estimation of forage
yield of the area was calculated by considering the shoot production of
dominant palatable species of the area (Negi et al., 1993, 2011). Only
suitable areas for grazing were considered for the present work. Intake
of one Cow Unit (CU) was calculated at 7.5 kg of dry matter per day and
153 days of grazing time (May–September) was taken into account in the
present study. Standard dry forage yield and proper rangeland carrying
capacity were calculated by using the equations as follows (Cheng et al.,
2017):
Y = Yp × A (1)
Where, Y = forage yield in a certain area (kg),
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Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
Yp i = forage yield per unit area (kg/km2),
A = land area of rangeland (km2).
∑n
F= i=1
Yi × Ui × Ci (2)
Where, F = yield of standard dry forage (kg),
Yi = forage yield (kg).
Ui = utilizable rate (%).
Ci = conversion coefficient.
50% utilization rate and conversion coefficient 1 for meadow were
considered for the present work.
F
Cc = (3)
I×D
Where, Cc = proper livestock numbers that a particular meadow can
bear,
F = yield of standard dry forage (kg),
I = daily intake for an animal unit (7.5 kg/day).
D = grazing days (May to September, 153 days).
2.3. NDVI analysis
The multispectral satellite imagery of Sentinel 2A and 2B of the early
post-monsoon month (September) was processed and downloaded using
the Google Earth Engine (Gorelick et al., 2017). We used typical full-
green September imagery from 2016 to 2019 by selecting a cloud-free
common window, and these common windows showed cloud free
NDVI in all the years of September imagery of the meadows. A total of 41
images were identified within the date range (01st-30th September of
2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019) and these images were processed for NDVI
analysis of each pixel that fell within the area of interest. Afterward, the
monthly median values were computed for each study period. NDVI was
calculated to track greenness density dynamics over the early post
monsoons of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The NDVI was computed using
the Red (ρ665) and Near Infra-Red (ρ842) bands by following estab­
lished equation to calculate the NDVI (Rouse Jr. et al., 1974).
ρ842 − ρ665
NDVI =
ρ842 + ρ665
2.4. Village survey and secondary data collection
A structured questionnaire was designed for a village survey. The
field team conducted the surveys and Field Group Discussions (FGDs)
with the villagers was carried out. Information about the available
livestock, villagers’ income sources, grazing sources, and agricultural
practices were primarily collected to understand the salient features
exerting biotic pressures on the study sites. In addition, the survey also
included various civic and other facilities like drinking, sanitation,
electricity, the existence of Self Help Groups (SHGs), education, medical,
etc. These aspects are also important as they further affect the com­
munity dependence and anthropogenic pressure, directly or indirectly,
on surrounding areas and/or upslope forests. Thirteen villages were
selected for the extensive survey from the Darma landscape region. The
informants were randomly chosen across 3 different age groups, i.e.,
20–40, 40–60, and > 60 (Joshi et al., 2020). Secondary data mainly
related to livestock population, tourists’ statistics, migratory animals,
etc. were collected from the various government and local departments
(from the forest department, district statistical handbook, department of
animal husbandry & dairying, tourism department) in Pithoragarh
district.
2.5. Correlation analysis
Furthermore, the pasture-specific ecological indicators were
analyzed for their internal correlation. The environmental parameter
(NDVI) was correlated with eco-physiological variables (human
P. Maiti et al.
Fig. 2. Alpine meadows and grazing routes in the Darma-Byans landscape(a), grazing in the Gabbe alpine pasture in the Darma landscape (b), grazing route near
Gungi and Kuti villages (c), and migratory livestock coming back from the Darma-Byans landscape during November in Dharchulla (d).
population, cow unit, and fuelwood collection) and evaluated across the
selected meadows of the landscape using Pearson’s Correlation Coeffi­
cient analysis to measure the strength of the association between the two
variables using Bond Energy Algorithm (BEA). The Pearson’s coefficient
represents a mathematical correlation coefficient that predicts the
relationship between the variables and ranges from +1 to − 1. Positive
values indicate positive correlation and negative values predict negative
correlation and 0 represents no relationship. The p-values were calcu­
lated for each coefficient to test the null hypothesis that the correlation
coefficients are equal to 0 considering the present representative values
for each parameter.
2.6. Text mining for adaptation and mitigation strategies
2.6.1. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses
(PRISMA)
Systematic review and meta-analysis of the available literature about
land hazard mitigation and adaptation strategies were done by applying
PRISMA, consisting of four steps, viz., process identification, screening,
eligibility, and then qualitative analysis of included articles. Keywords
used for the process were “degradation adaptation”, “adaptation stra­
tegies in the Himalaya”, “degradation adaptation in the Hindu-Kush
Himalaya”, “degradation mitigation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya”,
“land degradation adaptation in the Himalaya”, and “mitigation in the
Himalaya”. Article Uniform Resource Locator (URLs) and full-text
literature were obtained from different sites, viz., Google Scholar, and
PubMed using web scraping and other developer’s extensions in chrome
(Harzing, 2007; Alshammari and Mezher, 2020; Nand et al., 2020). The
used Exclusion Criteria were: (EC1) articles not written in English, (EC2)
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Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
articles without an author, and (EC3) articles with duplicate names.
2.6.2. Data-mining
Text categorization and classification were done by investigating
cirrus, linked, correlation, topics, and trend analysis (Harzing, 2007;
Osinski and Weiss, 2005; Maiti et al., 2015). Cirrus Tool was used for the
creation of a word cloud for visualizing the top frequency words after
removing stop words, such as, “the”, “a”, “and”, etc. Linked Analysis was
used to generate force-directed graphs. It gives insights into the land­
slide adaptation and mitigation techniques based on the collocations of
keywords across different articles. Simultaneously, correlation analysis
was done to investigate Pearson’s correlation calculations between two
words. Further, trend analysis was done to visualize the frequency of
each term across the documents in a corpus.
3. Results
3.1. Alpine meadows of the Darma-Byans landscape
A total of 1770.58 km2 area was identified under 14 LULC classes
from the entire Darma-Byans landscape. Among them, alpine pasture
cover was found in ~376.53 km2 area (21%) (Supplementary-I, II,
Fig. 2). Around 42% of the landscape comes under barren land followed
by 16.3% snow/glacier cover and other land cover classes, namely,
moderately dense forest (3.07%), open forest (2.29%), grassland
(1.48%), dry_river/river_sand (1.37%), scrub (1.22%), cloud shadow
(0.99%), agriculture (0.40%), river (0.25%), dense forest (0.24%),
water body (0.05%), habitation (0.03%), and river scrub (0.01%). Total
14 alpine meadows from the landscape were mapped along with their
P. Maiti et al. Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674

Table 1 considered from the landscape, namely, Tidang, Sipu, Sangosthi and
Alpine meadows of the Darma Byans landscape. Gabbe in the Darma landscape, and Jeolinkong, Kuti, Nabi and Gar­
Bugyal Lat. (N) Long. (E) Elevation Area in byang in the Byans landscape (Chandra Sekar, 2019) (Fig. 3). The
(m) hectare grazing capacity of the landscape was calculated by evaluating the
Darma landscape standard forage production and daily demand of the livestock popula­
Gabbe 30◦ 13′ 13.46” 80◦ 30′ 57.55” 3999 402.55 tion. Total 12 palatable species were considered from the Darma land­
Sipu 30◦ 18′ 51.10” 80◦ 28′ 41.56” 3771 109.78 scape, which were dominated by Tenaxia cachemyriana, Artemisia
Sanghoshti 30◦ 13′ 43.74” 80◦ 30′ 43.34” 3749 194.29 gmelinii, Bistorta affinis, Trachydium roylei, and Rhodiola imbricata (Sup­
Baun 30◦ 14′ 44.26” 80◦ 34′ 9.22” 3595 302.23
Tidang 30◦ 16′ 32.95” 80◦ 31′ 26.17” 3503 374.24
plementary III, IV). In total, 17 dominant palatable species were
Nagling 30◦ 10′ 21.53” 80◦ 32′ 55.09” 3221 165.32 considered for the grazing meadows of the Byans landscape which were
mainly consisted of Tenaxia cachemyriana, Kobresia nitens, Potentilla
Byans landscape arbuscula, Astragalus candoleanus, and Bistorta affinis (Supplementary V).
Jyolikong 30◦ 21′ 14.80” 80◦ 39′ 26.96” 4502 416.57 The total dry forage yield of the Darma-Byans landscape was calculated
Opposite to Om 30◦ 12′ 46.74” 80◦ 59′ 54.92” 4347 121.50 479,582.43 quintals per year and the yield of standard dry forage was
Parvat 239,791 quintals per year, which was 50% of the total yield of the
Kuti 30◦ 18′ 47.79” 80◦ 45′ 56.66” 4010 194.37
landscape area. The grazing capacity of the area was calculated as
Nabi 30◦ 12′ 40.53” 80◦ 50′ 37.20” 3876 171.51
Garbyang 30◦ 7′ 39.17” 80◦ 51′ 34.72” 3495 402.55 20,897 cow units (CU) per year, 10,611 CU for the Darma landscape,
and 10,286 CU for the Byans landscape (Table 2). During the evaluation,
22 medicinal plants (Table 3) were found in the landscape which comes
traditional grazing routes. Meadows, namely, Sipu (3771 m), Tidang under the threat category of the International Union for Conservation of
(3503 m), Sanghoshti (3749 m), Gabbe (3999 m), Baun (3595 m), and Nature (IUCN), Red Data book of Indian Plants (Nayar and Sastry, 1987,
Nagling (3221 m) were mapped from the Darma landscape. Similarly, 1988, 1990), CAMP and relevant published literature.
Jyolikong (4502 m), Nabi (3876 m), Kuti (4010 m), Opposite to Om
Parvat (4347 m), and Garbyang (3770 m) were included from the Byans
3.3. NDVI analysis
area (Table 1).

Studied meadows are completely blanketed under snow during the

3.2. Vegetation profile and grazing capacity winter, and begin sprouting after snowmelt (in April). However, the
typical growing season for alpine meadows in the study area is consid­
Vegetation profile of eight representative alpine meadows were ered to be from June to September (monsoon and post-monsoon). Alpine

Fig. 3. Vegetation profile in alpine meadows of the Darma-Byans landscape (a), measurement of 50 m2 plot (b), and vegetation analysis in 1 m2 quadrat in the
Sangosthi (3749 m) alpine pasture of the Darma landscape (c).

5
P. Maiti et al. Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674

Table 2 NDVI values gradually decrease as day length decreases and tempera­
Grazing capacity of alpine meadows of the Darma-Byans landscape. ture also decreases. In late autumn, the majority of herbaceous vegeta­
Name of area Area in Available Forage Carrying capacity tion turn brown, resulting in very low NDVI values (owing to sparse
hectare (Quintal/Year) (CU/Year) vegetation). The values obtained from seasonal analysis of the NDVI
Darma landscape during the last 4 years (2016-2019) depict the highest NDVI values in
Gabbe (3999 m) 402.55 2856 249 the post-monsoons (during September). The results revealed a remark­
Sipu (3771 m) 109.78 779 68 able increase in the meadows’ greenness density in the study region
Sanghoshti 194.29 1378 120 (Fig. 4). The greenness density dip was observed over Gabbe, San­
(3749 m)
Baun (3595 m) 302.23 2144 187
ghoshti, Tidang of the Darma landscape, and Kuti of the Byans land­
Tidang (3503 m) 374.24 2655 231 scapes in 2017.
Nagling (3221 165.32 1173 102
m) 3.4. Village level analysis
Other 15,612.59 110,771 9653

A total of 12 major villages found in the Darma landscape and 7

Byans landscape villages in the Byans landscape were evaluated under the present study.
Jyolikong (4502 416.57 2399 209
m)
In the Darma landscape, the human population was found in decreasing
Om Parvat 121.5 700 61 trend while compared with the population of the year 1981. These vil­
(4347 m) lages with decreasing population in the Darma landscape were, namely,
Kuti (4010 m) 194.37 1120 98 Bauling (2343 m), Sela (2605 m), Nagling (2939 m), Go (3180 m), Baun
Nabi (3876 m) 171.51 988 86
(3197 m), Dugtu (3204 m), Sipu (3396 m), Marcha (3436 m), and Baling
Garbyang (3495 402.55 2319 202
m) (3204 m). A similar trend was observed in 6 villages of the Byans
Other 19,185.5 110,508 9630 landscape, viz., Napalachchu (3187 m), Gunji (3217 m), Nabi (3288 m),
Total 37,653 239,791 20,897 Garbayang (3342 m), Kuti (3812 m), and Raung Kong (3276 m) (Fig. 5,
Supplementary-VI).
Along with the human population, the livestock population was also
Table 3 found in decreasing trend in the Darma landscape. The numbers of sheep
Diversity of threatened medicinal plants in the Darma-Byans landscape. were decreased from 1987 by 50% of the total population in Tidang
Species name Family Habit Altitudinal Threat
(3342 m) and Marcha (3436 m) villages followed by Bauling (2343 m),
range (m) status Nagling (2939 m), Baun (3197 m), Go (3180 m), Philam (3186 m),
Dugtu (3204 m), and Sipu (3396 m). In total, ~11,160 CU was estimated
Aconitum
Ranunculaceae Herb 2800–4000 EN1, R2 under grazing in the entire landscape comprising of 43,888 CU in the
heterophyllum
Aconitum violaceum Ranunculaceae Herb 3600–3800 VU Darma landscape, 7278 CU in the Byans landscape, and ~ 500 CU in
Allium stracheyi Amaryllidaceae Herb 2700–4000 VU other adjoining areas (Fig. 6, Supplementary-VII). Among these CUs,
Angelica glauca Apiaceae Herb 2800–4050 EN around 2013 were migrated in winter season towards Tanakpur area in
Arnebia benthamii Boraginaceae Herb 2800–3600 CR1, R2
Bergenia stracheyi Saxifragaceae Herb 2600–4000 VU
the Tarai region (Supplementary - VIII).
Dactylorhiza hatagirea Orchidaceae Herb 3000–4300 CR1, VU2 During the village survey in the Darma landscape, the respondents
Ephedra gerardiana Ephedraceae Shrub 3000–5200 EN were divided into three categories. Major respondents (55.01%) were
Ephedra intermedia Ephedraceae Shrub 3000–4800 LC old-aged, 31.66% respondents were middle-aged, and 13.33% re­
Fritillaria cirrhosa Liliaceae Herb 3000–4500 EN
spondents were young. Based on these surveys, it was predicted that an
Hyoscyamus niger Solanaceae Herb 3300–4200 VU
Malaxis muscifera Orchidaceae Herb 2600–3600 VU average person per household (hh− 1) invests total 5 days a week in
Nardostachys fuelwood collection during the summer season. In a cumulative period
Caprifoliaceae Herb 3000–4800 CR1,2, R3
jatamansi (July – September), a total of 64 days hh− 1 year− 1 of fuelwood collection
CR1, R2, was observed in the landscape. In view of recorded field data, it was
Picrorhiza kurroa Plantaginaceae Herb 3300–4350
VU3
Podophyllum
observed that Kutki (Picrorhiza kurroa, 97% respondents) was the most
Berberidaceae Herb 2600–3800 VU frequently used plant for medicinal purposes followed by Hathaajadi
hexandrum
Polygonatum (Dactylorhiza hatagirea, 89%), Ateesh (Aconitum heterophyllum, 87%),
Asparagaceae Herb 2700–4500 VU
cirrhifolium Chironda (Swertia chiriata, 86%), and Dolu (Rheum emodi, 84%). For
Polygonatum
Asparagaceae Herb 3000–4500 VU fuelwood, species like Bhojpatra (Betula utilis, 99%), Deodar (Cedrus
verticillatum
Rheum deodara, 92%), Kail (Pinus wallichiana, 88%), and Dhoop (Juniperus
Polygonaceae Herb 4500–5300 NT indica, 83%) were mainly used. The dependency for fuelwood burning is
moorcroftianum
Rhododendron
Ericaceae Shrub 3500–5600 NT
the highest on Bhojpatra followed by Deodar, Chir, and Juniperus spp.
anthopogon (Fig. 7). Likewise, Bhojpatra, Deodar, and Chir were also used for
Rhododendron
Ericaceae Shrub 3500–5600 NT making farming tools and house construction. For edible purposes, fruit
campanulatum
Saussurea obvallata Asteraceae Herb 3000–4800 EN species like Akhrot (Juglans regia, 99%), Pinglu (Gaultheria trichophylla,
Saussurea laniceps Asteraceae Herb 3500–4200 VU 85%), for fodder grass, Bugyal ghaas (Danthonia sp.,99%), Arba (Tra­
Abbreviations: CR- Critically Endangered, EN- Endangered, VU-Vulnerable, NT-
chydium roylei, 86%) were observed to be used (Negi et al., 2018a,b).
Near Threatened, LC- Least Concern, R- Rare. During the lastfive years, the landscape has been facing the conse­
quences of changing climate like excessive rainfall, and landslides.
People’s perception and knowledge about climate change were also
meadows of the landscape reach their maximum NDVI threshold during
analyzed during the village survey. Fuelwood burning (62.7%) and
the peak monsoon (August) and early post-monsoon (early September).
tourism (37.1%) were the major causes of changing climate in the
Acquiring clean satellite imagery during this season is difficult due to
landscape according to the villagers followed by air pollution (17.1%),
widespread cloud cover and atmospheric contamination. Hence, post-
forest fire (2.5%), hydropower projects (1.7%), and open waste burning
monsoon median NDVI values were calculated, and analysis of green­
(0.2%) (Fig. 7a). Annual tourists’ flow in Dharchula tehsil was found to
ness density was performed. Other seasons do not maintain full green­
be decreased during the last six years at a rate of 1839 tourists per year
ness over meadows since browning begins in autumn and consequently
(Supplementary- IX). However, deposition of solid waste during recent

6
P. Maiti et al.
Fig. 4. NDVI map with the seasonal pattern of the Darma-Byans landscape, and greenness density analysis of the selected alpine meadows.
days in the Panchachuli base camp area of the Darma landscape was
observed to be lying here and there during the field survey.
3.5. Correlation among the environmental and eco-physiological variables
The correlations between the NDVI (2019) and eco-physiological
variables (human population, cow unit, and fuelwood collection) are
negative and strong (close to 1). It depicts that the alpine with low
human population, cow unit, and fuelwood collection are associated
7
Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
with less vegetation disturbance as depicted by the high NDVI values.
Whereas, total CU and fuelwood consumption are in positive alignment
with the human population of the respective areas. All the Pearson’s
correlation coefficients appear to be significant at 0.05 significance level
(values in bold), which indicates the risk of rejecting the null hypothesis
(coefficient = 0) while this is less than 5%. The result was confirmed by
the table of the p-values as under (p-values <0.0001) (Fig. 8).
P. Maiti et al.
Fig. 5. Human population trend analysis for the Darma-Byans landscape (a), overview of Baun village situated (3197 m) (b), and village survey in Sipu village (3396
m) (c). (Source-Human population Census 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011, Govt. of India).
3.6. Ecosystem-based adaptation strategies: towards sustainable solutions
Ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation strategies for the land­
scape were searched by the web mining process. A total of 3250 articles
containing, 1300 full-text PDFs and 1950 HTML pages of title and ab­
stract regarding land hazard mitigation and adaptation strategies were
analyzed through the web mining process after removing the duplicate
contents (Supplementary - X). The corpus of the above documents had
3,326,858 total words and 85,095 unique word forms with a vocabulary
density of 0.026 and 21.9 average words per sentence. The most
frequently occurring words in the corpus were landslide (30,453 oc­
currences), Google (16,161 occurrences), and Springer (11,736 occur­
rences). A total of 1673 occurrences were found for the word
‘adaptation’ and 2947 for mitigation and 4602 for the Himalaya.
Literature was obtained from 20 different countries with the highest
frequencies from India, Nepal followed by other countries (Fig. 9). Based
on the above web mining and expert consultation, the suggested adap­
tation/mitigation strategies specific for the study area are discussed as
follows.
Recommended ecological engineering techniques for land hazard
adaptation in the study landscape included contour tillage, transforming
sloping fields into terraces, contour hedgerow, and tree and grass
planting. Besides, some geotechnical engineering strategies, viz.,
retaining walls, overbridging, rock bolts, piles, buttresses, and shear
keys, are useful for preventing land hazards and these activities must be
planned after modeling the potential land hazard zones using state-of-
the-art technology. While in contour layout, the location of ditches
and roads should be taken into account to prevent aggravation of erosion
by water flow along with sloped farmland depth of 25 cm, and advanced
rainfall-runoff models must be adopted under practice. In contour
8
Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
hedgerows, sloping farmland should be positioned every 4–8 m hori­
zontally, with a high-density (1 strain of 5–10 cm) planting of two rows
(row spacing of 30–50 cm) of perennial woody hedgerows, crops, and
other commercial plants in cultivated land (He et al., 2017). Plantation
efforts in the form of hillside benching, by way of the construction of
manmade terraces and berms, is an applicable method for the landscape.
Willows (Salix spp.) are attractive plants for that in the roadside
degraded areas and toes of the landslide scars. Willows can be used for
vegetation restoration because they are easily propagated vegetative,
grow quickly on low-fertile soils. They are also relatively short-lived,
and can rapidly increase their cover area even in marginal habitats.
The high diversity of the willows allows for the selection of candidate
species specialized for growth under a variety of habitat conditions
(Sylvain and Mosseler, 2017). Willows are well reported for restoration
of landslide-affected areas (Stokes et al., 2009; Stokes et al., 2014;
Naithani and Nautiyal, 2012). Alongside, Juniperus spp. are the appro­
priate plants for the high-elevation areas of the study landscape with
heavy slopping on the roadside. These species are also reported to pre­
vent landslides from the hillsides (Egamberdieva and Ozturk, 2018).
Juniperus polycarpos is a suitable species for the successful imple­
mentation of conservation programs at lower elevations (Rawat and
Everson, 2012). Some site-specific adaptation efforts along with sug­
gested plant species for plantation are mentioned in Table 4.
4. Discussion
Being a part of the Kailash scared landscape, the Darma-Byans
landscape is vital in view of conservation perspective. Several alpine
meadows of the landscape were already reported to facing the threats of
habitat degradation because of the over-exploitation of Ophiocordyceps
P. Maiti et al.
Fig. 6. Livestock population of the Darma Byans landscape (a*), and decreasing sheep population trend in selected villages of the landscape (b*). (*Source: Livestock
Census 2012, Govt. of India and Garbyal et al., 2005).
sinensis (Caterpillar fungus; locally known as Keera jari). Some examples
of such meadows include Sumdum, Philam, Bon, Baling, Dugtu and
Daantu in the Darma landscape (Negi et al., 2020). Therefore, to assess
the present ecological status of the alpine meadows, 8 alpine meadows
of the landscape were mapped along with the LULC mapping of the
entire landscape. This was done for understating the micro-scale
geographical location and proper implication of the restoration plan­
ning (Wang et al., 2021). Along with the studied pastures, it was
observed that ~42% of the landscape comes under barren land which
may be a major cause of land degradation in the area as barren land is
more prone to soil loss as compared with the other lands.
Overgrazing is a major cause behind the degradation of alpine
climate-sensitive meadows and other rangelands worldwide (Wang
et al., 2018). In the near past, the villagers of the Darma Byans landscape
practiced transhumance pastoralism, a foremost reason behind the faster
degradation of alpine meadows, soil erosion, and loss of moisture due to
overgrazing (Kuniyal, 2002). However, at present only less than 15–20%
of families in the landscape migrate to alpine villages (Rawat and
Everson, 2012). Therefore, the decreasing trend of the local livestock
population was observed in the present study. In the villages like Tidang
(3342 m) and Marcha (3436 m), the sheep population has declined up to
45–50% in view of their population way back in 1987. In total, ~11,160
CU was estimated for grazing in the entire landscape, which was less
than the grazing capacity of the landscape, i.e., 20,897 CU per year.
Landscape-wise, it was 10,611 CU for the Darma landscape and 10,286
for the Byans landscape. Thus, it can be observed that at present alpine
meadows of the area are not facing the problem of overgrazing. The
present livestock grazing is in favor of alpine pasture regeneration. As
grazing also plays an important role in influencing the community
structure and plant species diversity. Controlled grazing may promote
higher plant species diversity by raising spatial heterogeneity and
9
Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
improving niche breadth and overlap in grassland communities, thus
facilitating species coexistence. Grazing may cause the removal of
palatable species, which decreases the abundance of some dominant
species. This reduction benefited some unpalatable and grazing-resistant
species through reduced competition and increased nutrient availability
and/or light availability in alpine meadows (Lu et al., 2017).
Therefore, to confirm the present vegetation status of the pasture
areas, NDVI values were analyzed for each indentified meadows of the
landscape. Improvement of NDVI values in the selected meadows of the
Darma-Byans landscape authenticates the results of grazing capacity and
livestock population analysis. Increasing NDVI values indicate
increasing healthy vegetation in the degraded areas by the regeneration
processes (Carlson et al., 2017; Bai et al., 2020). It was observed that
increasing NDVI values are due to vegetation recovery by native
meadow species such as Astragalus, Bistorta, Potentilla, Primula, Ranun­
culus, Sibbaldia, etc. There was a dip observed in the NDVI values in 2017
over Sangoshti, Gabbe, Tidang, Nabi and Kuti. This dip may be due to a
vegetation disturbance caused by the harvesting activity of Caterpillar
fungus. We noticed that after strict entry restrictions were made by the
state government and forest authorities into these landscapes. This re­
sults inanthropogenic disturbances at minimal level. As a result, they
substantially trimmed down on grazing and tourism activities. With a
gradual decrease in the pasture dependency of local people, the
increasing trend of NDVI was observed for the alpine meadows of the
landscape during 2016–2019. Some recent studies have been conducted
at higher elevations (Sullivan et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2011), and they
reveal that the recent warming temperatures may also have stimulated
the overall plant growth in terms of increasing net primary productivity,
thus leading to improved carbon uptake.
During the human population analysis, a depopulation trend was
observed in most of the villages in the landscape. A major reason behind
P. Maiti et al.
Fig. 7. Villagers’ perception about the affecting factors for the changing climate in the Darma-Byans landscape (a)*, collection of fuelwood (Prunus cornuta) by
village woman in Gungi village (3217 m) (b), usage of Juniperus indica fuel-wood in the Byans landscape (c), and decreasing trend of tourists’ influx in Dharchula
tehsil (d) *Source-Tourism department, Pithoragarh, 2020).
this is the geographical location of the area. The entire Dharchula tehsil
comes under the fifth seismic zone area and is very prone to earthquake-
induced disasters like landslides, flood of 1970, Tawaghat landslides
(1977 and 1978), Malpa landslide and flood (1998), La Jhakla cloud
burst (2010), sinking of Garbyang village over the last half-century, etc.
As a result, migration trends were reported in villages like Dar village (in
the Darma valley) and Garbyang village (in the Byans valley). Perma­
nent migration of families is also common among non-Schedule Tribe
communities of the landscape (Pathak et al., 2017; Rautela, 2005).
Hence, depopulation spontaneously reduces the anthropogenic pres­
sures on the alpine meadows. Decreasing population trend of the land­
scape indicates the issue of out-migration may be governed by factors
like better livelihood, employment opportunities, etc. Many border
villages of the landscape became partial ‘ghost’ villages due to the
closure of the trade and less income generation possibilities. Therefore,
the implementation of modern agroecological practices as alternative
livelihood opportunities may act as an effective measure against the
problem of migration. Some examples of such technologies suitable for
the landscape include high-yielding and genuine quality seed/seedlings,
protected cultivation technology (poly house), soil-less cultivation
technology, medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) cultivation technol­
ogy, integrated agriculture, etc. Another vital issue associated with the
landscape is the winter migration. Promotion of all-weather road con­
nectivity and establishment of winter tourism are also suggested for the
area to promote winter livelihood opportunities.
Simultaneously, a decreasing trend in tourists’ influx was observed
in the landscape from 2013 to 2019. The landscape is a part of the
Kailash scared landscape and famous places of tourists’ attraction are
10
Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
situated in the landscapes, namely, Panchachuli base camp (3433 m) in
the Darma landscape and Adi Kailash (5945 m)- Chota Kailash, Gouri-
Kund, Mansaowar (4590 m), Om Parvat (5570 m) in the Byans land­
scape. But during the village survey, villagers informed that tourism
activity is in a declining trend in the landscape because of excessive
climate change induced rainfall, landslide events, and blockage of the
road. After 2019, Kailash Mansarovar Yatra was stopped for 2020 and
2021 because of the COVID situation and Indo-China conflict. This
condition could favor the natural regeneration of vegetation on the
landscape. On the other hand, economic benefits associated with
tourism are also necessary for increasing the socio-economic status of
the landscape. Therefore, considering economic benefits and environ­
mental protection, village-level eco-tourism may be promoted in the
landscape.
During the village survey, continuous extraction of several medicinal
and fuelwood plant species from the wild was observed in the Darma
landscape. Villagers also support the fact of massive fuelwood extrac­
tion. A similar pattern of extraction was also reported from the Byans
landscape by the local people. During the work, 22 high-value medicinal
plant species were reported from the landscape, which fall under various
threat categories of the IUCN and Indian Red Data Book. Extraction of
medicinal plants, shrubs, and trees such as Juniperus communis, Abies
pindrow, Betula utilis, and Juniperus indica was not only observed in the
landscape, but also well reported from the landscape. Several highly
valued medicinal plants like Dactylorhiza, Aconitum, Picrorhiza are
facing threats from habitat degradation and excessive extraction in the
IHR (Negi et al., 2018b). Therefore, conservation and management ac­
tions such as the development of sacred sites/groves harmonizing
P. Maiti et al.
Fig. 8. Pearson’s correlation analysis between the NDVI and eco-physiological variables (human population, cow unit, and fuelwood collection), scatter plots which
depict whether there is a positive (green) or negative correlation (blue). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to
the web version of this article.)
conservation with local culture are recommended for the landscape.
Examples of successful implementation of conservation techniques are
reported in some places like Hya-Roshe bugyal, sacred forest near
Rongkong, Putuk-tu bugyal, Pandav kutti of the landscape, etc. (Negi
et al., 2018b). Returning of biodiversity has been previously reported for
the Darma landscape due to an increased level of literacy and awareness
that promoted downward migration in 2006 (Garbyal et al., 2005). A
major habitat degradation threat of Keera-jari (Ophiocordyceps sinensis)
extraction is to be controlled automatically as the species has been
included in the IUCN, Red List of Threatened Species under the
vulnerable category. At present, the results of the current study also
support the natural regeneration of biodiversity in the alpine meadows
of the landscape. A significant, negative correlation was found between
the NDVI values and anthropogenic pressures of the area, including
livestock unit, human population and fuelwood extraction. The
meadows having low anthropogenic pressures were found to have high
NDVI values. Through local dispersal of seeds often produce as clustered
and patchy distribution of the first pioneer plants. Based on our primary
observations, the species of Astragalus, Bistorta, Potentilla, Primula,
Ranunculus, Sibbaldia, etc. were observed to be reoccupied into the
degraded landscape in the higher elevations (above 3500 m). In lower
elevations (less than 3000 m), the species of Anemone, Geranium,
Polygonum, Rumex, etc. were observed. Clear indications behind the
regeneration have been investigated in this aspect including grazing
below the grazing capacity, a decreasing trend of human and livestock
population, increasing pattern of NDVI, and a decreasing tourists’ influx.
However, heavy land hazard zones are observed in the sub-alpine and
low-altitude areas of the landscape.
The incidence of land hazard (landslide and erosion) events mainly
11
Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
occurs due to the extent of hillslope failure, which depends on distant
tectonic forces, climatic factors, and local topography (Li and Moon,
2021). As a mitigation measure, mapping of the hazard zones is
currently a well-adopted method being used in the IHR. However, the
latest pre-hazard identification systems as in other countries (viz., Cal­
ifornia, China, etc.) like the establishment of Interferometric synthetic
aperture radar (InSAR) segment processing (SP) technique for detection
movement of active landslides, rainstorm-induced landslides early
warning system in mountainous cities based on groundwater level
change are suggested for the study area (Kang et al., 2021, Liu et al.,
2021a).
Further, the implication of the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)
concept in recent years is an effort to improve economy of a community
as well as to mitigate degradation in the mountain areas. In view of this,
a mixed cropping system can decrease the risk and vulnerability of
landslides as well as increase the household food security conditions of
farmers. Success stories of such farming systems in response to landslide
mitigation are already available in Indonesia. Such a system may in­
crease the surface runoff infiltration by 10–20% compared to without
land cover vegetation along with efficient economic increment for the
localities (Jumiyati et al., 2021). In the study area, cultivation of hor­
ticultural crops covering various sub-tropical fruits like citrus, and
temperate fruits like apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, almonds, cherry
etc. are recommended. Apricot have also been gaining popularity and
have emerged as a fast-growing sector in Jammu & Kashmir and to some
extent in Ladakh (Ahmad et al., 2021). However, cultivation of paddy
species in climate-smart agriculture is not recommended in the villages
lying in high vulnerability zones as wet rice, raises the water table near
ground level. The sandy alluvial soils liquefied in response to strong
P. Maiti et al.
Fig. 9. Web mining through PRISMA, word cloud illustrations of the whole corpus (a), collocation of literature regarding landslide adaptation and mitigation
strategies from the Himalayan region (b), visualization of linked analysis between frequent keywords (c), and collocation of literature from different countries (d).
ground shaking and further induced earthquake-triggered landslides,
which have been reported from Indonesia (Bradley et al., 2019).
In the Darma landscape, gully erosion was observed in the places
above 3500 m elevation, viz., near the water channels in Gabbe bugyal,
near the Panchachuli base camp trek route, etc. In these areas, promo­
tion of geotextiles along the side of the water channels and live gully
breaks are recommended (Kuniyal et al., 2021b). Further, plantation of
grasses like Melica persica, in the pastureland and shrubs like Salix lin­
dleyana, and Juniperus communis in the lower areas will be suitable to
minimise soil erosion. Subsequently, for the places between 3000 and
3500 m such as in the areas south to the Dugtu village, plantation is
suggested using Hippophae salicifolia, Salix denticulata, Salix lindleyana,
Tenaxia cachemyriana, etc. Afterward, the village areas of Nagling or
between Nagling to Dugtu (below 3000 m), the problem of Polygonum
polystachyum weed colonization was observed. For the area, it is rec­
ommended to identify severely invaded areas and phase-wise eradica­
tion mechanical control measures like mowing or ploughing and
repeated cutting at least 4 weeks and 7 weeks respectively before
senescence are recommended followed by plantation of apple and other
suitable horticulture plants. Species like Salix denticulata, Tenaxia
cachemyriana, and Hippophae salicifolia are also suitable for the area.
Cultivation of medicinal plants like Picrorhiza kurroa may be also pro­
moted in the region with proper establishment of the market chain up to
an end of the product.
In the Byans landscape, near the Naplachu area (above 3500 m) gully
erosion was found to be a major problem in the water channel which is
12
Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
also the source of drinking water for the area. Bush layering using spe­
cies like Salix lindleyana, Myricaria elegans, Juniperus communis, etc.
could be ecologically beneficial for the area. For the areas below Gungi
(3000–3500 m), plantation of Hippophae salicifolia, Caragana versicolor,
and Salix denticulata are recommended. Further, in the Chiyalekh area
(below 3000 m) excessive erosion was observed near the road side areas
because of road cutting. Therefore, lowering the disturbance followed
by plantation of Salix denticulata is suggested using techniques like
vegetated gabions near the road side area and geo-coir matting in the
upper side.
Besides, in the village areas of the both landscapes, Dugtu and
Nagling in the Darma landscape and Gungi in the Byans landscape,
establishment of small integrated agricultural stations would be the
effective ways for long-term sustainable restoration. Units suggested for
the integrated agriculture may include pisciculture unit, organic agri­
culture or horticulture unit, cattle dairy unit and vermicomposting unit
or bio-composting unit from biodegradable waste left behind by visitors
or others (Kuniyal et al., 2003; Kuniyal, 2005a, 2005b). Launching such
site-specific integrated farming systems will assist recover soil moisture
contents, soil amelioration, maintenance of degraded lands, and also
would enhance agricultural productivity, livelihood and food security in
the associated hill region. In future, the following recommendations
may be implemented at the landscape level for the development of socio-
economic status and eco-restoration of sub-alpine areas (Table 5).
P. Maiti et al. Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674

Table 4
Eco-engineering measures for land hazard mitigation suitable for the alpine and sub-alpine areas.
Eco-engineering measures Suggested plant spp. for restoration Suggested locations Suggested locations
(elevation m) in (elevation m) in
Grass Herb Shrub
Darma landscape Byans landscape

Above 3500 m
• Reducing the load of soil at Calamagrostis emodensis, Bistorta affinis, Koenigia Lonicera spinosa, Hippophae Alpine pasture: Baun Alpine pasture:
the crown or by its Melica persica, Piptatherum tortuosa, Eriophyton tibetana, Rhamnus (3595 m), Sipu* Omparvat (4347 m),
enlargement at the toe of the gracile, Festuca spp., Poa rhomboideum, montana, Salix lindleyana (3771 m), Sanghoshti Kuti (4010 m), Nabi
*
landslide spp. Thymus linearis, Potentilla * Myricaria elegans, (3749 m) (3878 m),
• Hydroseeding * Melica persica argyrophylla Juniperus communis,
• Turfing Juniperus indica. Hippophae
• Live fascines and straw tibetana
wattles
• Live gully breaks
• Bush layering
• Geotextiles (made up with
natural fibre like Grewia
optiva and Pinus roxburghii.)/
Coir Geotextiles

3000–3500 m
• Hydroseeding and Turfing
• Live pole drains
• Transforming sloping fields
into terrace
• Terracing
• Geotextiles (Rolled Erosion
Control Products)
• Live crib walls
• Live / rock check dams
Tenaxia cachemyriana,
Dactylis glomerata, Poa
alpina
Sibbaldia cuneata, Bistorta
affinis, Bistorta amplexicaulis,
Bergenia stracheyi, Picrorhiza
kurroa, Rheum australe
Dwarf willows (Salix Alpine pasture: Baun Alpine pasture:
denticulata, Salix (3595), Om Parvat (4347 m),
lindleyana, Salix karelinii) Sipu (3771 m), Kuti (4010),
Berberis jaeschkeana, Rosa Sanghoshti (3749 m) Nabi (3878),
sericea, Rosa macrophylla Village:
Kuti (3824 m)

Below 3000 m
• Soil nail and root technology Tenaxia cachemyriana, Fritillaria cirrhosa, Selinum Rhododendron lepidotum, Village: Bauling
(SNART) - Festuca valesiaca, Cenchrus vaginatum, Selinum carvifolium Lonicera angustifolia var. (1933 m),
• Hybrid flaccidus, Poa alpina, Carex myrtillus, Cotoneaster Sela (2499 m),
• Soil nail and Turfing unciniiformis microphyllus Nagling (3221 m)
• Contour hedgerow
• Contour tillage
• Geo-coir matting, Soil nail,
wire mesh and hydroseeding
hybrid
• Vegetated gabions (hybrid)
*
For cold desert areas.

5. Conclusion Funding

Alpine and sub-alpine areas of the Darma-Byans landscape in the
Central Himalayan Region, are climate-sensitive and considered as one
of the vital conservation concerned landscape identified under the
SECURE Himalaya project of the United Nation Development Pro­
gramme. The natural regeneration trend was analyzed in the alpine
pasture of the landscape due to grazing below the grazing capacity,
decreasing trend of human and livestock population, a decreasing
tourists’ influx which is also supported by the increasing pattern of
NDVI. However, heavy land hazard zones are observed in the sub-alpine
and low altitude areas of the landscape associated with massive land­
slides and erosion activities. In view of the same, recommendations for
landscape-level eco-restoration are provided regarding combined stra­
tegies for ecological mitigation and adaptation of hillslope instability,
awareness campaigns, sacred sites or groves, shepherds night staying
sites, plantation, sustainable tourism, eco-tourism, solid waste man­
agement, permanent monitoring plots, etc. All the above recommenda­
tions could ultimately help attain Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) like restoring the mountain ecosystems (SDG 15-life on land),
mitigation measures due to the effect of climate change (SDG 13- climate
action) and if executed in a holistic and coordinated manner will pro­
mote the UN calls in the decade of eco-restoration.
This work was supported by the United Nations Development Pro­
gramme (UNDP) - Global Environment Facility (GEF), under the project
entitled “Undertaking a study to define the extent and intensity of
habitat degradation, to identify the drivers of degradation and prepare a
study proposal for developing model mitigation plan in alpine and sub-
alpine areas in SECURE Himalaya project landscapes of Uttarakhand”.
Credit author statement
P.M. formulated the manuscript, J.C.K. conceptualized the work,
critically reviewed it and finalised the entire manuscript; K.C.S.
analyzed the vegetation profile. K.V.S. has done the NDVI analysis. Field
data collection was done by A.K., N.B., P.M., K.C.S. Phytosociological
analysis was done by K.C.S and D.S.; S.C.A. helped in collecting infor­
mation regarding restoration planning and statistical analysis was done
by M.N.; R.C S. critically reviewed the entire manuscript and restoration
planning in finalised by J.C.K., R.C.S, K.C.S, S.C.A. and P.M.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have not any known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

13
P. Maiti et al.
Table 5
Recommended eco-restoration strategies for the Darma-Byans landscape.
Mitigation strategies Proposed activities
Awareness and Awareness and
sustainability sustainability training
campaigns campaigns focusing on
minimizing threats,
promote conservation and
sustainable utilization of
medicinally and
economically important
species (i.e.,
Ophiocordyceps sinensis),
Villagers need to be
informed about IUCN, Red
List of threatened species,
Wild Life Protection Act,
1972, Amended 2003 and
the Biological Diversity
Act, 2002,
Exploited meadows in a
recent past for Keera-jari
collection need to be
announced as sacred sites
or groves with the help of
the concerned local
community for further fast
regeneration and revival
of the meadows.
Improvement of Degraded and disturbed
vegetation health meadows need to be
and regeneration restored by their natural
regeneration through
nursery development and
reintroduction of
threatened plants listed in
Table 4 by the forest
department.
Organised and Establishment of
conservation grazing shepherd’s night staying
sites following the below
mentioned stratigies:
• Should be placed 2–3
km downslope from the
main pasture area
(distance that may be
covered by the
shepherds’ every day),
• 3–4 stone made huts
should be made for the
shepherd’s and forest
guard, along with the
facility of fuel (which
will prevent cutting of
shrubs like Juniperus
and other spp.),
• Alternative places
should be selected for
this, that could be used
as alternative per year,
to allow the natural
regeneration of the
disturbed vegetation
due to night camping of
animals.
Soil erosion control Slopes may be treated by
geo-coir matting (made up
of natural fibers) followed
by hexagonal wire mess
netting,
Plantation of Astragalus
candolleanus, Caragana
versicolor Cicer
microphyllum, Piptanthus
nepalensis, for controlling
Table 5 (continued )
Places selected for
implementation
The adjacent villages of
the meadows, namely, Bon
(4318 m), Baling (4072
m), Philam (3870 m),
Dugtu (3642 m), and
Daantu (3565 m) in the
Darma landscape
Places already suggested
in Table 4
In the area, middle of
Sangosthi (Syankuti) and
Panchachuli base camp in
the Darma landscape and
in Jolingkong in the Byans
landscape.
The roadside areas near
Nagling in the Darma
landscape and Bundi to
Gungi in the Byans
landscape in the Byans
landscape
14
Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674
Mitigation strategies Proposed activities Places selected for
implementation
soil erosion and vegetation
regeneration.
Promotion of Promotion of sustainable In the villages like Dugtu
sustainable tourism ecotourism and home (3209 m) in Darma
stays, landscape and Kuti (3875
Through signboards m) in the Byans landscape
depicting visual Do’s and
Don’ts in the Bugyals area,
Establishing Ecotourism
Development Committee
(EDC), Small nature
interpretation and
learning centres. The role
of the centres will likely to
conduct amusement
facilities like flying fox and
burma bridge, plantation
of memory saplings, and
nature trails with yoga for
the tourists,
Signboards depicting
specific fine identified for
a particular offense.
Solid Identification of waste In the Panchachuli base
wastemanagement composition and camp in the Darma
segregation of waste landscape, Adi-Kailas and
through biodegradable Om Parvat trek route in
and non-biodegradable the Byans landscape and
waste bins in trek routes downsloping located
and tea stalls for reduce, villages
reuse, and recycling,
Different eco-friendly
waste bins for bio-
degradable and non-
biodegradable waste
should be placed in the
camp sites, trek routes (in
every 2 km distance) and
village area. Establishment
of small microbial bio-
composting pits (1 m × 1
m×1m-3m×1m×1
m) for management of
biodegradable waste (
Kuniyal, 2005a, 2005b) is
recommended in every 5
km distance,
Establishment of waste
collection points at
Tawaghat,
Use of plastic bags may be
prohibited,
Establishment of basic
amenities at certain tourist
places like site-specific
toilets, wash facilities,
permanent camping
grounds, community
barracks, fixed log huts,
and common cooking
place.
Alternative livelihood Indigenous cash crops, In the areas near to Sipu
options multipurpose mixed village (3398 m) in the
plantations and cultivation Drama landscape, and
of apple (Malus domestica, Gunji, Nabi, Kuti villages
cultivar, ‘Red Delicious’). (>3200 m) in the Byans
landscape
Bio-diversity Establishment of In the Darma landscape
monitoring permanent monitoring
plots following the
standard Global
Observation Research
Initiative in Alpine
Environments (GLORIA)
protocol.
(continued on next page)
P. Maiti et al. Ecological Engineering 180 (2022) 106674

Table 5 (continued ) org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106674.

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