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Abstract:
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"Sustainable management of the rich forest resources of ecologically sensitive Himalayan State - Himachal Pradesh contributes significantly towards ecological stability and economical development of the state, region and the country. Forests are key to livelihoods to majority of people being dependent on forests for fuel wood, fodder, grazing, construction timber and NTFPs. Traditional customary rights of the people living in and around the forests allowed them to use the produce of the forests for their livelihood. The conservation and management of its forest resources have been possible with the active participation of local people. There are numerous traditionally in vogue successful cases of people active participation in forest resource management especially in the regulated collection and distribution of forest products in the villages of inner Himalayas. Examples of traditional systems of management by indigenous local institutions of commercially important forest products yielding edible pine nuts, cumin, the morels, medicinal plants and grasses from the villages and forests located in the inner Himalayas are discussed. These forest product use systems demonstrate combination of private, state and common property use and management regimes. These traditional systems are very appropriate community institutions under which rights are consistent with capacity of forests to yield income and livelihoods that can be sustained thus leading to sustainable forest management. There exist institutions of co-operative labour, sacred groves, informal village councils, and village deity system in Himalayas, present a strong evidence of survival of commons in Himalayan cultural landscape. The committees of local deities nominated and/ or elected members plan and organize their functioning without written procedures. Thus, each village in Himachal Himalayas is regarded as a village republic. Although the procedures vary from village to village but people have great faith in the decision-making and conflict resolution mechanisms of these committees that are neither political nor administrative bodies. These cultural (Deity) institutions perform multiple functions in the society and have diversity in belief, functions and organization activities across the Himachal Himalayas. This paper focuses on the management of commercially important forest products by indigenous institutions and conservation practices followed for maintenance of sacred/ temple groves in case study villages. The analysis of indigenous systems of management through local institutions reveals strong positive relationship between social capital and natural resource management at grass root levels. Traditional initiatives and systems in the participatory and regulated forest products by indigenous communities have implications for policy support and sustainable livelihoods through income generating activities due to increased pressure on forest resources. The policy of creating village level institutions through JFM introduced should be assessed vis-à-vis these traditionally in vogue participatory approaches in the Himachal Himalayas for sustainable resource management. The latter have great merit of promoting equitable distribution of the produce of neighbouring forests. The democratic and decentralized management by small village communities themselves and their having evolved over a long period of time are a satisfactory system of exploitation as well as preservation of this common property resource in perfect harmony with each other."
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