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The Area
ATI is presently working in the mountain state of Uttaranchal
along the Central/Western Himalayas of India. The area contains
the upper watershed of two of India's major rivers, the Ganga
and the Yamuna, which flow out of these hills to eventually
benefit hundreds of millions of people living in the Indo-gangetic
plains.
Subsistence agriculture supplemented by livestock continues to
be the main occupation of the people living in this area.
Farming in this region is only able to supply about one third of
the needed grains with the agricultural land producing only 1
ton grain per hectare/yr. and the forests providing composting
vegetation at about 10-20 t/ha/yr.
Significance of the Project Area to
Global Biodiversity
The global significance of the project region’s biodiversity has
been highlighted in The Global 200, a representative approach to
conserving the earth’s most biologically valuable eco-regions
undertaken jointly by the World Wildlife Fund and others.
Even beyond this the Western Himalayan Eco-region (WHE) is vital
to India as a provider of ecosystem services. The productivity
and sustenance of the Gangetic Plain is largely dependent for
regulated supply of soil fertility and water on the ecosystem
subsidy of the WHE. This robust and productive zone supports a
population of nearly 400 million people.
Conservation – Defining Issues:
The population of Uttaranchal according to the census is
approximately million of which approximately are involved in
subsistence agriculture. The dominance of peasant based
subsistence agriculture is perceived in negative terms in its
relation with poverty due to declining and low levels of
productivity.
The problem of creating productive employment for people, has
been addressed by ATI keeping in mind the comparative advantages
of the area, in terms of availability of resources and the
ecological needs of the region.
Contemporary literature on the ecological condition of the
region, generally accepts that the decline in forest cover (in
Uttaranchal) from the recorded 3.47 m/ha, to an actual of
approximately 1.15 m/ha (dense cover), constituting
approximately 33% of geographic area can be attributed to
cultivation, to meet subsistence needs of a growing farming
population.
Therefore the critical need of conservation can possibly be
addressed by addressing this competitive interaction between
forestry and agriculture - by providing alternate productive
employment.
For more details on Activities of
ATI, please visit
http://www.atindia.org |
