NEW DELHI: Climate change will denude and put under additional stress, the Himalayan forests, the Indian government fears. A federal government report has said that these Himalayan forests are already reeling under threats like excessive livestock grazing, over extraction and human impact. India's Environment Minister, Jayanthi Natarajan released the country's communiqué to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, spelling out the fears. The report says as much as 45 percent of India's forest grids will undergo changes due to climate impact. The forest ministry has determined the spatial location of all forest areas, using a high resolution digital map of the country to gather inputs and finalize the report. It divided India's entire area into 165,000 grids of which nearly one fourth were marked with forest density and types. According to the report's assessment of vulnerability, the sensitive grids are spread across the country, but their concentration is greater in the upper reaches of Himalayas, besides the Western and Eastern Ghats and Central India. The report said, most mountainous forests, the dry as well as moist temperature forests of the Himalayas, are susceptible to climate change. Contrastingly, the report mentions that the forested regions of Eastern India, the forest of the North-East and the southernmost part of the tropical Western Ghats are least vulnerable. The mighty rugged Himalayan mountain range sits like a crown atop India and its melting glaciers feeds the country's fertile plains every summer, making a key part of the country's eco system. According to Natarajan, India is committed to the responsibility towards the global community and opined that the country has already reduced carbon emission voluntarily. The report has results of many studies conducted specially to capture India's forest diversity at a national level. Notably, the net emission of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gasses in India was pegged at 1301.21 million tons in 2000, showing a 4.2 percent growth from levels recorded in 1994. The country's green house gas profile for 2007 is a unique feature of the report and it is estimated at the level of 1771.66 million ton of CO2.
