The Himalayas, also called the Third Pole, are unique mountain systems from the climate change and natural hazards perspective for at least four reasons: (i) they are one of the youngest, tectonically active and geologically fragile and tallest mountains anywhere on earth, (ii) in spite of having significant area with permanent snow cover along with many temperate biodiversity elements and vegetation communities they also have a strong tropical Monsoonal hydro-climatology in addition to contribution from western disturbances and have some of the highest rates of warming, with evidence of major perturbations to vegetation response, including temperature induced moisture stress, (iii) the Himalayas have unique water sources such as springs that sustain remote communities but are also an important source of water, carbon and sediment for sustaining downstream socio-ecological systems from flood-plain rivers to the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta and the Bay of Bengal, (iv) the Himalayas are currently undergoing huge transformations: climatic, socio-economic and developmental.
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