Citation: Jha, S.K.; Negi, A.K.; Alatalo, J.M.; Prabhu, V.; Jha, M.B.; Kumar, H. Forest Degradation Index: A Tool for Forest Vulnerability Assessment in Indian Western Himalaya. Sustainability 2022, 14, 15655. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su142315655 Academic Editors: Filippo Vitolla, Nicola Raimo, Ornella Malandrino and Benedetta Esposito Received: 18 September 2022 Accepted: 10 October 2022 Published: 24 November 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Forest Degradation Index: A Tool for Forest Vulnerability Assessment in Indian Western Himalaya Shashidhar Kumar Jha 1, *, Ajeet Kumar Negi 2 , Juha Mikael Alatalo 3 , Vignesh Prabhu 4 , Mani Bhushan Jha 1 and Hemant Kumar 5 1 Climate Program, World Resources Institute, Delhi 110016, India 2 Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Hemvati Nandan Garhwal (A Central) University, Srinagar 246174, Uttarakhand, India 3 Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar 4 Center for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy, Bengaluru 560094, Karnataka, India 5 Center for Rural Development & Innovative Sustainable Technology, IIT-Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, West Bengal, India * Correspondence: shashidharkj@gmail.com or shashidhar.jha@wri.org Abstract: The global climate is showing altered temperatures and precipitation levels. Forests can be a stabilizing force in climate change. They regulate the nutrient cycle, protect species and diversity, and support livelihoods that drive holistic growth. Presently, the forest ecosystem’s capacity to withstand change is being undermined by the rate of change, along with anthropogenic pressures and the specificities of mountainous regions. Here, we attempted to design a ‘forest vulnerability index’ using field measurements and household surveys. A total of 71 quadrants were laid out, and 545 respondents were interviewed in 91 villages along the altitudinal gradient (altitude < 1200 m asl (Zone A), 1200–1800 m asl (Zone B), and >1800 m asl (Zone C)) of the Pauri district of Uttarakhand, India. The village-level data were normalized and combined to represent climate change impacts and the dimension of vulnerability. The IPCC (2014) protocol was used to assess forest vulnerability. The highest vulnerability was recorded in Zone ‘B’, and higher sensitivity, higher climate change impacts, and lower adaptive capacities were recorded in Zone ‘B’ and ‘C’. The approach is comparable within the district and between the states. In enhancing our shared understanding of forest degradation, the results are of value to policy/decision-makers, implementers, and adaptation funding agencies, who can use them to assess the scale, cause, and actions for adaptation. Keywords: climate change; forest vulnerability; indicators; Himalaya 1. Introduction The Himalayas are an ecologically rich range of mountains range that serve humans with a wide range of goods and services (Rasul 2014 [1]; Badola et al., 2015 [2]). The ecosys- tem hosts various natural resources and diverse habitats, with a considerable altitudinal variation. The naturally rich repository nourishes more than seven countries (Government of Uttarakhand, 2014 [3]), and is associated with social and economic benefits within rural Himalayan communities (Hoy et al., 2016 [4]). Overall, the Himalayas provide a plethora of goods and services to mountain communities and millions of downstream inhabitants. The ecosystem has become critical in contributing to the continuous flow of services. Himalaya is projected to be extremely sensitive to climate change (Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment, 2010 [5]; Chaturvedi et al., 2011 [6]; Singh and Hietala 2014 [7]), as the changes are likely to alter the regulation of terrestrial biogeochemical processes, such as litter decomposition, nitrification, denitrification, nitrogen mineralization, nutrient uptake, fine root dynamics, and soil respiration and productivity (Jha 2020 [8]). Historical patterns have had the following effects: glaciers receding (Kumar et al., 2015 [9]), deterioration in water resources (Li et al., 2016 [10]), drying out of traditional water sources Sustainability 2022, 14, 15655. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315655 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability