Changing discourses in the third pole: A systematic review of climate change impact on biodiversity in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Climate change has emerged as one of the major threats to biodiversity and the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is facing the challenges due to a higher rate of elevation dependent warming and erratic rainfall. The rich biodiversity and bounty of ecosystem services provided by this 'water tower' and the 'Third Pole' are under higher risk. Though there is scattered and sectoral knowledge available, comprehensive understanding on climate change and its impact on biodiversity is lacking in the HKH. To fill this gap, a systematic literature review using search, appraisal, synthesis, and analysis (SALSA) was undertaken to look at temporal and spatial trends of research focusing on the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The increasing trend and evolution of research from sectoral to multidisciplinarity approach with increasing focus on impacts suggested a strong influence from regional priority and global discourse. There is a clear pattern of biophysical and environmental focused research in the early phase of the 1990s to societal concerns highlighting vulnerability, adaptation, and mitigation measures at the later phases. The review also revealed an increasing trend in multidisciplinary, networking and bringing innovative tools in research linking climate change and biodiversity. However, the research showed greater focus in the Tibetan plateau and alpine ecosystem with decreasing interest in the forest ecosystems, and a very negligible focus on wetlands. Studies on impact assessments are increasing but at a relatively low rate. Better representation of investments based on vulnerable ecosystems, underrepresented countries and collaborative regional research on emerging priority areas such as restoration and larger scale nature-based solutions could contribute to climate resilience in the HKH.