Mapping Hill and Mountain Ecosystem in India: A Review and Framework for Ecological Production Units (EPUs)

Abstract

Mountain and hill ecosystems (the Himalaya-Northwest hills and Northeast hills, Aravalli, Western Ghats, and Eastern Ghats) in India provide critical ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation, water regulation, and livelihood support, yet their spatial heterogeneity is poorly captured by existing classification frameworks. This paper presents a narrative synthesis of global and Indian approaches to mapping mountain ecosystems and evaluates their suitability for land-use planning in complex upland regions. We review major frameworks, including biogeographic zones, agroecological regions, watershed divisions, WWF ecoregions, and global mountain classifications, highlighting their strengths and limitations in representing ecological and production variability. A key gap identified is the absence of an integrated, operational unit that combines ecological, climatic, and socio-economic dimensions for planning purposes. To address this, we propose a conceptual multi-criteria GIS-based framework for delineating Ecological Production Units (EPUs) in Indian hill regions. The framework integrates topography, climate, soils, land cover, and human factors to define homogeneous units of ecological productivity and management relevance. The study demonstrates that EPUs can serve as a bridge between ecological classification and decision-making, with applications in watershed management, agroforestry, conservation planning, and climate adaptation. However, implementation is constrained by data gaps, scale mismatches, and institutional fragmentation. The paper contributes a structured synthesis of classification systems and provides a conceptual pathway toward operationalizing spatially explicit, ecosystem-based planning in India's hill and mountain regions.