Assessing the Impact of Climate Change in Tawang River Basin, Eastern Himalayas

Abstract

Climate change in the Himalayan region has been adversely affecting various systems- physical as well as socio-economic which the mountain people depend on. Snow plays a crucial role in the hydrological cycle, in these high-elevation regions. The Eastern Himalayas is not an exception in facing the changes. The region holds uneven topography and harsh terrain and has limited ground-based data, and thus needs a better comprehension of the hydrological cycle and water resource management. The changes in climate variables (temperature and precipitation), snow cover, and/or glacier, resulting streamflow highly influence the mountain people’s lifestyle as well as livelihood. Mountain tourism is one of the socio-economic sectors that has seen the climate change impact directly. These changes are elevating in nature and are projected to be increased in the future. Taking all these facts into consideration, a framework is developed to study and assess the climate change impact on the Tawang river basin, a tributary to the Brahmaputra river in the Eastern Himalayas, in this research work. Thus, this study aims to assess the changes in snow cover area, climate change (temperature and precipitation) trends, its impact on snowmelt runoff in snow cover areas of the Mago Chu sub-basin in the Arunachal Himalayas and corresponding streamflow under different projected climatic scenarios. This thesis also study the impact of climate change on the tourism sector and livelihood that depends on the tourism sector which can be a help to the water resources management of the region and other agencies.