Community-based natural resource management in Himachal – Issues :

Himachal Pradesh is categorised under one of the most fragile ecosystems among India's hill states. Hill communities face dual challenges of food and energy shortages and have become more vulnerable to weather variabilities and susceptible to natural disasters, attributed to climate change.

Fuel wood and fodder, which are two most important requirements of rural hill communities for their own sustenance and that of their livestock and small ruminants are becoming increasingly scarce. Presently, there is an enormous pressure on the forests for fuel wood and fodder with the woodlots in the commons diminishing over the past two decades due to rapid deforestation and absence of plantation activities. Most forest stands in the hills have matured/aged and there is limited scope for their natural regeneration, due to non-formation of cones, attributed to climate change and increased human and cattle interference. The small ruminants like sheep and goats are now being grazed in the upper reaches of the forests, extending the zone of deforestation.

Engagement in subsistence agriculture, orchards and livestock rearing in the inaccessible hill terrains are the most important sources of livelihoods in the fragile Himalayan communities, with a heavy reliance on the local forest ecosystems.Wood, LPG and electricity remain the three important sources of fuel for domestic purposes, with fuel wood being the vital source of heating and energy for a majority of the rural households, especially during the winter months (about 80 per cent), though the  dependency on forests for firewood continues throughout the year.

Hill communities are directly dependent on forests for their provisioning needs, such as food, fuel wood, fodder, timber, water and medicines. Wood of Cedrus deodara (Deodar) and Pinus wallichiana (Kail/Blue Pine) trees are used for timber purposes.

Hill communities also collect medicinal herbs from the forests for domestic use and for sale. NTFPs ( Non-timber forest products) such as Jurinea macrocephala (Dhoop), Gentiana lutea (Kadu) and Trillium govanianum (Nag Chatri) are harvested in the higher reaches and sold to traders who come to the village to buy the mushrooms and medicinal plants.

About 40 per cent of the households engage in collection and sale of NTFPs. Usually, those households engage in NTFP collection that have either have less land holdings, or have a large number of family members.

Dhoop is sold for Rs 120/kg and Kadu for Rs 240/kg. About 50 per cent of the households are engaged in collection of NTFP for sale and domestic use.

The most important species collected from the forest are Jurinea macrocephela (Dhoop), Aconitum spp. (Patish), Rheum emodi (Rewand Chini), Potentilla nepalensis (Dori grass), Orchis latifolia (Salampanja), Polygenatum vertiuilliem (Salam Mishri), Ainaliaea aptra (Sathjalori), Picorhiza kuroo (Karoo), Podophyllum emodi (Bankakri), Rhododendron compannlatum (Kashmiri patta), Saussurea lappa (Kuth), Artemesia sp. (Seski) and Polygenatum vertiuilliem (Thuth).

Problems occur due to excess use of forest resources :

1. Procuring fuel wood round the year has become a challenge for most hill communities due to the rapid destruction of forests, degraded common property resources and increased restrictions from the forest department to collect fuel wood from the forests. Women from the local communities have to travel to faraway places (up to 10-15 kilometres) to collect fuel wood on a weekly basis due to non-availability of fuel wood in their own villages.

This is a painstaking work, which involves carrying head loads of up to 70-80 kilograms of firewood. Most often, they confront the forest officials, who reprimand, fine and seize their small cutting equipment like axes, as a punishment for collection of such basic fuel wood material.

2. For the winter months, hill communities stock fuel wood and grass (Silage), especially when the temperature falls below freezing and the land is blanketed in snow, making it difficult to go out for collection of fodder to feed their livestock. Grass cut from designated areas and green leaves are procured from forests for fodder, led to excessice degradation for one particulat time imbalance the nature.

3. Eighty per cent of the fodder needs are met from the forest and the rest 20 per cent are from the private lands. Leaves of trees such as Aesculus indica (Khannaur- Horse Chestnut), Morus alba (Kimu), Robinia, Juglans regia (Jungli Akrot), Prunus spp. (Wild Apricot - Chooli), Prunus persica (Wild Peach - Bemi), Quercus semecarpifolia (Kharshu Oak) and Ban Oak are used as fodder. Fodder needs are also met from crop residues. This excess degradation led to extinction of many wild species of plants and herbs.

Efforts made by government  :

1. Timber Distribution (TD) rights have not been issued in the last few years in the villages. Due to a ban on green felling in Himachal Pradesh, hill communities are facing difficulty in getting TD rights. The forest department allows communities to extract Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFPs) once every three/five years, when the forest range is opened.

2. There have been efforts by the forest department, power plant companies and local communities for forest conservation and sustainable management under the Catchment Treatment Plan. However, there have been no significant changes observed in the villages on local soil and water conservation and forest improvements from the Catchment Treatment Plan.

3. Hill communities do have individual and community rights for the collection of dry wood for fuel, grass and green foliage for fodder, timber extraction (for community functions like marriages/feasts) and collection of food products and non-timber forest produce. But there are no rights on grazing of cattle and livestock.

4. A majority of the households have customary grass cutting rights in the forest area and common lands. As a common practice, the grasslands are kept closed during the monsoon months from June to mid-September to prevent open grazing by animals and to allow the grass to grow. Mechanised grass cutting machines are owned by a few community members and men are mostly engaged in mechanised grass cutting. Communities do practice traditional systems of rotational grazing on agricultural lands and forests.

        However, community-managed natural resource management is limited or non-existent. They currently discuss on sports events in the village/Gram Panchayat meetings. Effective coordination between and among the major stakeholders for community-based natural resource management remains a challenge for the hill communities.

The way forward :

• Awareness on environmental degradation, effects of climate change and possible peoples’ collective actions to address these imminent challenges will be crucial, especially for the young generation in schools and colleges.
• Valuing local people’s indigenous knowledge systems and practices will be the first step to prepare local hill communities for collective actions to restore and manage the already degraded and fragile hill ecosystems.
• Massive plantation drives ensuring new plantations of grass, shrubs and trees species suitable to the local agro-ecology and funded by the forest department, power companies and other development actors like NGOs/donor agencies.
• Revival and strengthening of village institutions like Van Panchayats, Youth clubs, Women’s Groups/Collectives, Farmers’ Collectives etc, will be important to ensure the decentralised conservation and management of common property resources and forest.
• Conscious and sustainable use and management of land, water and forest resources by local hill communities, ensuring natural regeneration processes, participatory planning, management and maintenance of natural resources will be crucial. Community level rules/bye-laws and enforcement mechanisms for sustainable management of natural resources will be useful in the long run.
• More collaborations and partnerships will be required among local communities, local self-governance bodies, government, academicians, universities, non-profits, Corporate Social responsibility Foundations, Himalayan Mountain Forum, social movements and networks and the larger civil society are needed to ensure community-based natural resource management and better provisioning of ecological services for the hill communities.