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Climate Change, Extreme Events and Disaster Risk Reduction pp 279–294Cite as

Quantification of Geodiversity of Sikkim (India) and Its Implications for Conservation and Disaster Risk Reduction Research

Part of the Sustainable Development Goals Series book series (SDGS)

Abstract

Geodiversity is the term which describes the variability of earth’s surface materials, forms and physical processes. Conservation of geodiversity has become increasingly significant in recent decades since it has become obvious that geodiversity provides the abiotic preconditions for habitat development and maintenance and has a crucial influence on biodiversity. The Himalaya is one of the mountain systems showing highest levels of geodiversity and biodiversity. However, no research has been done on the quantification of geodiversity or on the relationships between geodiversity and biodiversity. Sikkim, located in the humid eastern Himalaya, has been selected as a study area within this global hot spot of biodiversity. The main approach of this research was to explore the geodiversity of Sikkim, using topographical and climatological information, and analyse the importance of geodiversity in the context of climate change and future conservation of natural resources. We used several quantitative approaches to produce geodiversity information which could be able to explain biodiversity patterns in the study area, since species richness models can be derived from explicit measures of geodiversity. A detailed database on species (flora) richness has been drawn from several floras and published literature. In Sikkim, the altitudinal range between 500 and 2000 m shows the highest species diversity. At higher altitudes, species diversity decreases, in particular above 5000 m. We used System for Automated Geoscientific Analysis (SAGA) GIS software for automated quantification of geodiversity. We produced a geodiversity index map which almost matches the high richness areas of the biological richness map by the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS). Quantifying geodiversity indices for biodiversity hotspots such as Sikkim may contribute to biodiversity as well as geodiversity conservation, and further the understanding of geodiversity–biodiversity relationships.

Keywords

  • Biodiversity
  • Climate change
  • Conservation
  • Disaster risk reduction
  • Geodiversity
  • Sikkim
  • The Himalaya

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEN Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Institute of Geography, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Raunaq Jahan, Udo Schickhoff, Jürgen Böhner & Olaf Conrad

  2. Department of Geography and Environment, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Bangladesh

    Raunaq Jahan

Authors
  1. Raunaq Jahan
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  2. Udo Schickhoff
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  3. Jürgen Böhner
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  4. Olaf Conrad
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raunaq Jahan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Prof. Dr. Suraj Mal

  2. Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Prof. Dr. R.B. Singh

  3. Department of Geography, University of Zurich—Irchel, Zürich, Switzerland

    Christian Huggel

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Jahan, R., Schickhoff, U., Böhner, J., Conrad, O. (2018). Quantification of Geodiversity of Sikkim (India) and Its Implications for Conservation and Disaster Risk Reduction Research. In: Mal, S., Singh, R., Huggel, C. (eds) Climate Change, Extreme Events and Disaster Risk Reduction. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56469-2_19

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