Do our national parks stand a chance of surviving climate change? We try to find out. http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/unnatural-world-national-parks-and-climate-change

1. Unnatural World:
Our national parks and climate change

2. Periyar
Type: Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Vulnerabilities
● Increase in frequency and intensity of forest
fires
+
Changes in rainfall
=
Shift towards dry deciduous forest type
and eventual desertification
● Atmospheric warming → Cloud forest
confined in narrow belt
=
Loss of upto one-third of endemics,
Possible eventual extinction
Characteristic
species:
Teak,
rosewoods,banyans
Elephants, tigers,
sambhar, flying
squirrel, sloth bear etc

3. Tadoba
Type: Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
Vulnerabilities
● Increase in
frequency and intensity of forest fires
+
Changes in rainfall
=
loss of biodiversity and eventual
desertification
Characteristic
species:
Teak, palas, jamun,
ain, semal
Tigers, leopards,dhole,
gaur nilgai, chital, etc

4. Khangchendzonga
Type: Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Vulnerabilities
Increasing temperatures
↓
Northward movement of forests
=
forests invade high-altitude
meadows, and eventually decline
when not able to 'keep up' with
rising temperatures
Characteristic
species:
oak, birch, maple,
willow
snow leopard, musk
deer, himalayan tahr ,
trogopan, griffon
Increase in invasives + changes in flowering times
=
Decline and loss of some species.

5. Gangotri
Type: Temperate coniferous forests
Vulnerabilities
Increasing temperatures →
Northward movement of forests
=
forests
invade high-altitude meadows,
and eventually decline when not able
to 'keep up' with rising temperatures
Characteristic
species:
deodar, fir, spruce,
snow leopard, musk
deer, himalayan tahr ,
brown bear
Increase in invasives + changes in flowering times
=
Decline and loss of some species.

6. Sariska
Type: Grasslands, savannas and shrublands
Vulnerabilities
Increase in CO2 levels
↓
increase in woody species
↓
Shift towards forest type and decline
of grazers
↓
Decline of predators
Characteristic
species:
grasses, ber, khair,
arjun
tiger, hyena, jackal,
antelope chital, boar,
sandgrouse,

7. Kaziranga
Type: Flooded grasslands and savannas
Vulnerabilities
Water scarcity
↓
drying up of wetlands, heat stress, fires
↓
species loss
Characteristic
species:
sugarcanes, spear
grass, elephant grass,
kumbhi, Indian
gooseberry,
rhinoceros, water
buffalo, swamp deer,
fishing cat, leopard cat
Hotter and dryer environment
↓
increase in vectors, pests, invasives
↓
species loss

8. Thar
Type: Deserts and xeric shrublands
Vulnerabilities
Higher temperature + Episodic rainfall
↓
increased runoff, less storage
↓
animal mortality due to heat and
water stress
Characteristic
species:
sewan grass, aak shru
, dhok
blackbuck, desert fox,
wolf and desert cat,
bustards, grouse,
vipers, lizard
Warmer, earlier spring
↓
increased water consumption and
locust plagues

9. Sunderbans
Type: Mangroves
Vulnerabilities
Rising sea levels
↓
Flood out mangroves
Characteristic
species:
Mangrove spp,
palms,spear grass
tigers, dolphins, fishing
cat, crustaceans, boar,
deer
Increased extreme events
↓
Damage to forests
Increased CO2 levels → Damage to
coral reefs → Loss of protection from
waves → damage to forests

10. Hemis
Type: Montane grassland and shrubland
Vulnerabilities
Rising temperatures
↓
Temperate forests move to higher
latitudes
↓
Grasslands 'squeezed' into narrowing
belts
↓
Loss of an estimated half of present
area under montane grasslands
Characteristic species:
Juniper,
Anemone,Gentiana,
Thallctrwn, Lloydia,
Veronica, Delphinum
Snow leopards,tibetan
wolf, ibex,griffon, marmot

11. Rani Jhansi Marine National Park
Type: Coral reefs
Vulnerabilities
Increasing temperature & CO2
↓
increase in photosynthesis + nitric oxide
↓
Death of corals
Characteristic
species:
Corals, sponges,
jellyfish, fish,
crustaceans...
Most productive biome
Rising sea levels
↓
Coral reefs drown

12. Created by
Chicu Lokgariwar
for
India Water Portal