Secondary forests of the Himalaya with emphasis on the north-eastern hill region of India

Secondary forests form a major component of the forest types in the Central Himalayan region and in the north eastern hills of India. Deforestation in these areas is largely due to external pressures of timber extraction for industrial use. When large scale deforestation from outside the region is superimposed upon the demands of the local communities for food, fodder and fuelwood, the previously balanced use of forest resources, including the management of swidden fallow secondary forests, becomes impaired. Understanding the local linkages between ecological and social processes is important in order to design strategies for the sustainable management of secondary forests in the region where traditional societies live. A particular approach suggested is to benefit from the sociocultural heritage related to keystone species such as Alnus nepalensis. The traditions around these and related species and their particular ecological attributes allow for the design of adaptive management strategies to resolve problems with both environmental and sociocultural dimensions. In designing such an adaptive management plan that could be operationalised at the landscape level where both natural and human managed agro ecosystems are well integrated, designing appropriate institutions at the local level is important for ensuring community participation

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Not AvailableA study on the land degradation in the upper catchment of river Tons, a tributary of Yamuna river, in Uttarkashi district of the Uttarakhand state was carried out using on screen visual interpretation of IRS LISS-III + PAN merged data. The study area, which is highly mountainous, includes Govind Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park. Vegetation cover, slope and erosion status were used as criteria for delineation of four major land degradation categories viz., undegraded, moderately degraded, degraded and severely degraded. The study showed that more than 50 percent of the study area is covered with snow and grasslands. The moderate to severely degraded area worked out to be 42.4 percent 123 RESEARCH ARTICLE of the total area. The 32.8 percent of area was found to be moderately degraded, followed by degraded (6.63%) and severely degraded (2.88 %) areas. The depletion of vegetation cover on mountainous terrain and subsequent cultivation without proper protection measures is the reason for severe soil erosion and land degradation. In view of the existing land degradation situation, the catchment requires immediate treatment on priority basis for sustenance of agriculture and wild life. It is expected that these measures will reduce the silt load in the river Tons and eventually in river Yamuna.Not Availabl