Natural Resources : Conservation and Management for Mountain Development

Contents: Preface. I. Biodiversity status and management: 1. Biodiversity in north-west Himalayas and its sustainable use/Shashi Kant and Koshal K. Sharma. 2. Plant diversity and community features of the forested landscape adjacent to foot-hills of central Himalayas/R.P. Shukla and S.K. Pandey. 3. Bamboo and ratan (cane) diversity in north-east India with special reference to Arunachal Pradesh/K. Haridasan, Sunny Thomas and Anupam Sharma. 4. Bamboo resources and palm group of plants in eastern Himalayan region: productive conservation and management/K.A. Singh and P.S. Pathak. 5. Orchids of north-east India: conservation and export potential/S.N. Hegde. 6. Important medicinal plants of Arunachal Pradesh: distribution and prospects of utilization/M.S. Rawat and Rama Shankar. 7. Fungal diversity of eastern Himalayas with particular reference to Arunachal Pradesh/N.S. Bisht and N.S.K. Harsh. 8. Conservation of high level conifers in Western Himalayas using innovative nursery technology/Ombir Singh and V.P. Panwar. II. Land-uses, hazards and their management: 9. Land use/cover status assessment using remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) approach/A.P. Krishna. 10. Land use pattern and soil properties in Kumaun hills/R.P. Tripathi, B.C. Saini and N.P. Mishra. 11. Landslides in Garhwal Himalaya and its mitigation/Ajay K. Naithani. 12. Landslide and its control through bio-engineering technology in the Himalayas/G.P. Juyal, G. Sastry, J.S. Samra and P. Joshi. 13. Degraded land and its management in mountain region with special reference to north-eastern region/Jasbir Singh and T.J. Ghose. 14. Restoration of degraded soils using organic amendment and bio-inoculant/N.C. Talukdar, P. Hazarika, D. Dutta and Y.P. Singh. 15. Natural resources conservation and management for mountain development in north-eastern region/K.K. Satapathy. 16. Agroforestry for fertility improvement and management of soils/K. Laxminarayana. 17. Agroforestry in lower hills of Himachal Pradesh: an overview and future research agenda/G.S. Goraya and Vijender Pal Panwar. 18. Cultivation of multipurpose tree species for conservation of soil resources in north-east India/S.P. Ahlawat. 19. Potential forest tree species for amelioration of soil properties in humid tropics/S.C. Tiwari, J.K. Das, B. Loktongbam and S.S. Singh. III. Water resource utilization and management: 20. Assessment of water resources in Arunachal Himalaya/Surendra Singh. 21. Rain water harvesting and utilization for sustainability of agriculture in mountainous region/R.C. Srivastava. 22. Water management for tea cultivation for north-east India/P.P. Dabral. 23. Prospects of micro irrigation in north-eastern region of India/Anil Kumar Mishra. IV. Indigenous knowledge system and socio-economic development: 24. Traditional indigenous resources management practices in north-eastern region of India/Sapu  Changkija. 25. Natural resource endowment and economic development in Arunachal Pradesh/N.C. Roy. 26, Strategies for fodder production under existing constraints for sustainable development of U.P. Hills/J.K. Bisht and V.P. Mani. 27. Potential of sericulture in north-east India for rural development/B.G. Unni, Archana Yadav and Rosalita Baruah. 28. Mithun and its role in socio-economic development of Arunachalees/T. Heli. 29. Yak and its role in mountain development/R.N. Pal, K.V.H. Sastry, B.P. Singh and T.K. Mohanty. 30. Galos eco-friendly ways of fishing/Tomo Riba. 31. Mushroom cultivation for socio-economic upliftment of tribal people in north-eastern hill states of India/S. Mukta Singh. 32. Mushroom cultivation and rural development/A.N. Singh and P.K. Borah. 33. Managing resources for development – a case study from ‘Ranjhi’ Madhya Pradesh/N.B. Majumdar.

“The mighty Himalayas region is a repository of natural resources, both physical and biological. The resource depletion accompanied by environmental degradation has become a common scenario of the Indian Himalaya, leading to growing social dissatisfaction. The prerequisite for resource conservation and a satisfactory pace of development of the mountain areas is judicious management of resources, preferably based on traditional methods with appropriate degrees of scientific interventions. The subject is well diversified and researches are in progress at global/national levels to improve our understanding about the judicious use of natural resources for sustainable development of mountain areas.

The book contains reviews and research papers of active workers on important themes of natural resources. The 33 articles of the book has been grouped under four parts namely, biodiversity status and management; land-uses, hazards and their management; water resource utilization and management, and indigenous knowledge system and socio-economic development. Part I contains 08 articles and reflects comprehensive and well presented work, covering biodiversity status of north-west and central Himalayas; diversity of bamboo, cane, palm, orchid, medicinal plants, fungi in north east India and conservation of high level conifers using innovative nursery technology. Part II of the book contains 11 articles on land-use/cover status assessment using GIS and RS approach; land-use patterns; landslides and its mitigation; restoration of degraded lands; agroforestry and cultivation of MPTs and potential forest tree species for soil amelioration and technological options for land resource development. Part-III contains 04 articles on important aspects of water resource namely, assessment of water resource in Arunachal Himalaya; rain water harvesting for sustainable agriculture; water management for tea cultivation and prospects of micro-irrigation in hilly region. Part-IV of the book contains 10 articles and reflects well presented work, covering different aspects of indigenous knowledge system and socio-economic development namely, traditional indigenous resource management practices, natural resource endowment and economic development; potential of sericulture, fodder, mushroom and animal resources in socio-economic development of inhabitants of the Indian Himalayan region. This part also includes a success story of managing natural resources for the overall development of an area.

The articles discussed in this volume are based upon advances made in the field of natural resources. Full coverage is given to natural resources, both physical and biological (except energy and human resources). This edited volume will definitely prove useful to researchers, teachers, students, professional and planners, whosoever, is interested in judicious use of natural resources for the benefit of the world at large and the inhabitants of the Indian Himalayan region in particular."