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Hill communities of Uttaranchal play a pivotal role in the preservation of the forest wealth of the nascent state by their traditional practices and self-imposed rules, reveals a study titled, "Documentation of the self-imposed rules and traditional practices, of the tribal/hill communities in Uttaranchal, for the management of natural resources," conducted jointly by the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, Dehradun and the National Law School of Indian Universities (NLSIU), Bangalore. The contribution and initiative of local communities in conservation of forests in the hill state has been based on the traditional knowledge of these hill people.
"While Uttaranchal having 70% of the population fully or partially dependent upon the forests has nearly 65% forest cover, its mother state namely Uttar Pradesh has only five percent. With both states having the same Forest and Wildlife Acts, yet this vast disparity in the forest cover is quite revealing. The protection of more forests in the state is the result of the self imposed rules and traditional practices of the hill communities for regulating the use of the forests and not as a result of the central or state forest or wildlife laws." said Mr. Anmol Jain, while talking about the joint study.
to your friend!Forests have became a central part of the village culture and their use has been regulated through a number of social institutions. Based upon their traditional knowledge the hill people have devised certain 'exemplary practices' for the use of the forests. Over the years, such 'best practices' have become an inherent part of the traditions and customs of the communities resulting in high forest cover.
Van Panchayats, operational in the Kumaon and Garhwal hills since 1931. Formed in the wake of the people's movements and rebellion against the exploitative forest policy of the British, they symbolized the continuance of an institutionalized form of the traditional system of forest management. The forests under the Van Panchayats have been managed by the people based upon their the age old practices with minimum interference of the state.
However, after the birth of Uttaranchal as a new state a new anti-people ordinance, "The Uttaranchal Panchayati Forest Rules - 2001," has been promulgated. The state government is preparing conditions which ultimately bring Uttaranchal's forest status down to the UP level. The hill people are seeing this ordinance as a parallel body floated by the new government and marginalizing the elected panchayats as per provisions of 73rd Amendment and also discouraging the traditional systems of forests management. "Converting traditional Van Panchayats into Joint Forest Management (JFM) supported by the World Bank loan will lead to alienation of the local communities from the forest and bring to an end their major contribution through traditional wisdom." feel the hill people and the environmentalists.
"Only 15% of the wildlife in the region resides within the protected areas and the rest 85% outside them, yet the fact that maximum poaching occurs within the protected areas while outside the protected areas human beings are killed by the animals, is reflective of the mismanagement of the wildlife by the forest bureaucracy," according to Padamshree Avdhash Kaushal of Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, Dehradun.
Taking over the forest management by the forest department into the functioning of the Van Panchayats will fast erode this spirit of forest conservation by the local communities. It represents another example of the total disregard by the state of traditional, community-run systems of natural resource management and also as per National Forest Policy 1988.