Abstract
In Himalaya, increasing rainfall variability has accelerated landslide activity damaging cultivated land and devastating agricultural infrastructure. Paper aims to analyze rainfall variability and interpret its linkages with landslides and food security with an example of Kumaon Himalaya. Food security in the region depends on local agricultural production, food purchasing power, and road connectivity. Study revealed that both number of rainy days as well as amount of rainfall reduced respectively by 18% and 25% during last 10 years, but incidences of high intensity rainfall, cloud bursts and flash floods have increased. This has triggered landside activity devastating 4.83ha cultivated land, 800m canals length and 3,891m road network ever year. Consequently, food production has declined by 15% rendering 45% families highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Adaptive agricultural land use planning and diversification and improvement of rural livelihood could reduce vulnerability of mountain communities to climate change and food insecurity.
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Acknowledgement
The Authors are grateful to Indian Space Research Organization (IRSO), Government of India, Bangalore and the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India for providing generous financial support for carrying out the study.
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Tiwari, P.C., Joshi, B. (2013). Rainfall Variability, Landslides and Food Security in Himalaya. In: Margottini, C., Canuti, P., Sassa, K. (eds) Landslide Science and Practice. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31337-0_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31337-0_24
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