Integrating geospatial tools and species for conservation planning in a data-poor region of the Far Eastern Himalayas

The Hindu Kush Himalayan region (HKH) is an important biodiversity repository with more than 488 protected areas covering 39% of the region’s geographical coverage. However, a majority of them are small and isolated and are not large enough to address conservation challenges. About 20% of the protected areas are transboundary in nature. Conservation landscape planning based on habitat suitability is an essential step for landscape management, but there are limited data available from the Landscape Initiative for Far Eastern Himalayas (HI-LIFE). To rationalize the need for regional cooperation, this study used remote sensing (RS) data and a geographic information system (GIS) to estimate the habitat suitability for four globally significant speciesconsidering available but limited secondary information. The results showed variation in habitat suitability at an individual species level, but the combined map showed about 43% of the total area as a suitable habitat. Substantial amounts of suitable habitat also recorded from outside the existing protected areas. The results also highlighted the fact that 75.40% of the existing forest within the landscape is intact, the majority of which is outside the existing protected areas. Thus, there is a strong rationale and opportunity to strengthen regional cooperation to safeguard irreplaceable and unique biodiversity resources of this wilderness landscape.