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PDF
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Type:
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Conference Paper |
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Author:
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Tewari, P.; Mittra, Bhaskar; Phartiyal, Pushkin |
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Conference:
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Governing Shared Resources: Connecting Local Experience to Global Challenges, the Twelfth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons |
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Location:
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Cheltenham, England |
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Conf. Date:
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July 14-18, 2008 |
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Date:
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2008 |
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URI:
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https://hdl.handle.net/10535/873
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Sector:
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Social Organization
General & Multiple Resources |
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Region:
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Middle East & South Asia |
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Subject(s):
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natural resources
resource management
community forestry
livelihoods
grasslands
IASC
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Abstract:
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"The village communities in Himalayan state of Uttarakhand (lies between 28o 44' & 31o 28' N Latitude and 77o 35' & 81o 01' East longitude) in India have been involved in community forestry management as well as to fulfill their daily needs of fodder, fuel wood and biomass for agriculture. The village level institute known as Van Panchayat (VP) or the village forest council was introduced in 1920s by the colonial rulers as the mechanism to resolve agitation which was initiated by the local communities against the government's move to have control over the forests. The VPs were formed within the village boundaries and have since been managed by village level committees.
"A recent project on strengthening of the VPs has indicated that to restore the efficient functioning of the VPs village communities should have tangible benefits from the community forest areas. The livelihoods based management of natural resource approach was followed by developing perennial fodder grass plots on the VP land and simultaneously breed improvement programme for local milking animals. A balanced approach between breed improvement through artificial insemination and increased availability of fodder grasses yielded enthusiastic results.
"The participation of the community has increased and 40% of members are directly involved in VP activities. The presence of community members in VP meeting have reached to 32%. Easy access of fodder grasses and management of fodder feeding through advance practices has assisted in time saving of women community by 300-335 hours in a month resulting in initiation of income generating activities at village level. The dependence for fodder on trees and lopping has reduced by 10.5% during past two years while 52% reduction has been recorded over uncontrolled lopping.
"Availability of nutritious fodder has also accelerated the AI for improved breeds as milking capacity of existing improved breeds has increased by 16.4%. Thus, awareness among villagers has immensely increased for management of community forests by promoting fodder grasses in barren lands and ridges on one hand and adoption of improved breeds on the other."
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