Translating Knowledge into Actions Conservation Biology of the Himalayas Editorial

Funding: Not available The need for Conservation Biology of specific species and ecosystems has been widely acknowledged worldwide. This is demonstrated by, among other things, scientific publications devoted to conservation biology of specific species and ecosystems (e.g. Glenn et al. 2001, Gower and Wilkinson 2005, Pratt 2009). The goal of conservation biology is to document the full range of biological diversity (species, genetic variation, and ecosystems), investigate human impact on biological diversity, and finally develop practical approaches to prevent the biodiversity loss (Primack 2013). In this editorial note of the special issue “Conservation Biology of Himalayas” of this newly established journal, Conservation Science, I would like to discuss conservation problems of Himalaya that require multidisciplinary perspective. Let me start with a few examples that show interconnectedness of Himalayan ecosystems and livelihoods. I argue that Conservation Biology of Himalaya can be an essential framework to unify innovative tools and approaches needed to perverse Himalayan biodiversity. My hope is that the journal will bring many of such exciting ideas to deal with the problems related to the nature conservation, often with an interdisciplinary perspective. Himalayas are the world’s youngest and highest mountain chains (Molnar 1964), and they are one of the biological treasures of the world. For example, the Himalayas cover 29 ecoregions, which include eight out of 200 globally important ecoregions of the world (Olson and Dinerstein 1998). The region is also home for several endemic birds (www.birdlife.org) and centers for plant diversity (WWF/IUCN 1995). However, in the last 30 years, the region has already lost more than 15% of its forest area, and by 2100, may have lost half of its forests (www.conservation.org). Conservation International (CI) lists entire the Himalayan region as a globally important biodiversity hotspot for its great biological diversity and high levels of endemism, which are under immediate threat of species extinctions and habitat destruction (Mittermeier et al. 2005, Conservation International 2011). Furthermore, recent studies show that climate change has already caused a worrying situation in Himalaya such as changes in precipitation trends (Ma et al. 2009, Shrestha et al. 2000, Xu et al. 2007), shifting monsoon patterns (Shrestha et al. 2000) and shrinking of glaciers (Shrestha and Aryal 2011). These threats including direct exploitation (e.g. deforestation) may act synergistically and destroy Himalayan biodiversity (Anderson & Bowe 2008; Hansen et al. 2008; Solomon et al. 2009). Here, my aim is to show why Prakash K. Paudel [email protected]