Natural Resources Management And Sustainable Livelihoods In The Mountainous Region

This book explores the relationships between natural resources management, sustainable livelihoods, and integrated watershed management in the context of the mountainous region, especially in the northeastern region of India. The book also sheds light on the current state of regional issues, identifies gaps in the existing practices and proposes future policies for effective conservation and sustainable development. The environmental degradation in the northeastern region of India is basically attributed to the increasing biotic pressure on the fragile ecosystems in the absence of suitable investments and proper management practices to enhance and conserve the natural resources. Population growth and poverty on the one hand and the pressure of rising demand from wealth and consumerism on the other hand, have been exerting powerful pressure on the ecosystems. Natural resources planning and management and sustainable livelihoods through integrated watershed management is not just a technical challenge; it is also a social challenge. The book is a valuable resource for policymakers, researchers, practitioners and stakeholders involved in natural resource management, sustainable development and watershed management in the Himalayan region.

Sustainable livelihoods and ecosystems are far-reaching and burning issues in the wake of high growth of population, low production and per ha yield of crops and depletion of biodiversity resources. Mountainous regions of the world are facing the menace of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition. Further, tremendous growth in population and slow pace of development have together forced most of the population to live below poverty line. Traditionally depending upon cultivating subsistence crops for food requirement, the people living in mountainous region are unable to produce sufficient food grains to run their livelihood smoothly. The Himalayas is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots and has an abundance of natural resources: land, water and forest – life sustaining factors. The geo-environmental conditions – climate and landscape further enhance the possibility of sustainable livelihoods through eco-tourism, harnessing water resources and utilizing forests and their products sustainably. Diversifying agricultural practices through cultivating cash and cereal crops and enhancing livelihood options through extensive use of timber and non-timber based forestry products can help to eradicate poverty and provide food security. This book consists of an introduction and nine chapters, covering geo-environmental setting, socio-economy and population profile, sustainable livelihoods: diversification and enhancement, livelihood analysis, development of tourism and hydroelectricity, case studies, mountain ecosystems, sustainable mountain development and also presents a conclusion.

Management of local resources has a greater chance of a sustainable outcome when there is partnership between local people and external agencies, and agendas relevant to their aspirations and circumstances. Managing Natural Resources for Sustainable Livelihoods analyses and extends this premise to show unequivocally that the process of research for improving natural resource management must incorporate participatory and user-focused approaches, leading to development based on the needs and knowledge of local resource users. Drawing on extensive and highly relevant case studies, this book presents innovative approaches for establishing and sustaining participation and collective decision-making, good practice for research, and challenges for future developments. It covers a wide range of natural resources - including forests and soils, and water and management units, such as watersheds and common property areas - and provides practical lessons from analysis and meta-analysis of cases from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It offers insights on how to make research participatory while maintaining rigour and high-quality biological science, different forms of participation, and ways to scale up and extend participatory approaches and successful initiatives. This book will be invaluable for those professionally involved in natural resource management for sustainable development and an essential resource for teachers and students of both the biophysical and social science aspects of natural resource management.

Management of local resources has a greater chance of a sustainable outcome when there is partnership between local people and external agencies, and agendas relevant to their aspirations and circumstances. Managing Natural Resources for Sustainable Livelihoods analyses and extends this premise to show unequivocally that the process of research for improving natural resource management must incorporate participatory and user-focused approaches, leading to development based on the needs and knowledge of local resource users. Drawing on extensive and highly relevant case studies, this book presents innovative approaches for establishing and sustaining participation and collective decision-making, good practice for research, and challenges for future developments. It covers a wide range of natural resources - including forests and soils, and water and management units, such as watersheds and common property areas - and provides practical lessons from analysis and meta-analysis of cases from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It offers insights on how to make research participatory while maintaining rigour and high-quality biological science, different forms of participation, and ways to scale up and extend participatory approaches and successful initiatives. This book will be invaluable for those professionally involved in natural resource management for sustainable development and an essential resource for teachers and students of both the biophysical and social science aspects of natural resource management.

This book provides an international perspective on rural planning, focused on developing countries. It examines conventional development planning and innovative local planning approaches, drawing together lessons from recent experience of rural planning and land use. The authors examine past and current practice and ways that land use planning and management of natural resources can underpin sustainable local livelihoods. They draw on case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America to present findings relevant throughout the developing world.

The densely populated Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon remains one of the regions with the greatest land degradation problems in the country. Factors responsible for this include climate change, the hilly nature or topographic layout of the land, and human interference through overgrazing, destructive agricultural practices and the impact of deforestation. This detailed study of resource management and its ecological challenges in the Bamenda Highlands, stresses an important link between falling food output and soil deterioration. While most areas in this predominantly agricultural region enjoy food abundance, the inhabitants of high-density infertile, rugged mountainous areas are forced to resort to double cropping and intensified land exploitation that leave little room for soil regeneration. The population problem in relation to land degradation is infinitely more complicated than the region's sheer ability to produce enough food supply. The authors make a strong case for a delicate balance between human agency and environmental protection in this highly populated and physically challenging region where land is a precious resource and land conflicts are common.

'This volume on interdisciplinary work in mountain areas is an excellent compilation of examples as well as lessons learned. In effect it provides guidance on how best to approach such work. While different in training and backgrounds the [authors] clearly articulate the global conviction that interdisciplinary work is the only approach. This volume of case studies repeats this strong and important message.' Nikita Lopoukhine Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and former Director General of National Parks Parks Canada 'Over the past twenty years the rhetoric surrounding inte.