Geographic Information System for Rural Livelihood Improvement and Poverty Alleviation in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve Buffer Zone in Himalaya

Himalaya carries large forest dependent population including indigenous communities living interspersed forests for the several thousands years. The nature of terrain and resultant geo-environmental constraints pose severe limitations on the level of resource productivity as well as on the efficiency of infrastructural facilities. As a result, biomass based subsistence agriculture constitute the main source of rural livelihood for more than 77% regional population despite the availability of arable land is severely limited and productivity is considerably poor. This traditional agriculture is interlinked with forests and flow of biomass energy from forests to agro-ecosystem is mediated through livestock. These people are largely dependent on forests not only for the fulfillment of their basic resource needs, such as, fuel wood, fodder, timber, grazing etc. but also for their livelihood. In view of this, the local communities have traditionally enjoyed limited resource use rights and concessions in these forests, and thus the forests have been integral to the development of their economy, culture, traditions and history. A large proportion of these forests has now been brought under the network of protected areas, and a number of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and more recently biosphere reserves have been created in Himalaya under the provisions of Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and Indian Wildlife Protection Amendment Act 1991. Since, these protected areas are supposed to be completely free from all kinds of resource dependency pressures and other types of human interferences, the traditional rights and concessions to local people have now been withdrawn and their traditional resource use activities have been prohibited in a major proportion of forests in the region.
This has not only undermined the traditional economy and destabilized rural livelihood, but it also constitutes a source of prolonged resource use conflicts between local people and protected-area administration. This clearly indicates that it is not practically possible to manage large protected areas on a sustainable basis without considering the needs and problems of local rural communities. It is therefore, imperative to analyze all crucial issues related with the conservation of forests and wildlife in a holistic manner by considering protected area management as one of the essential components of overall land use and resource management policy, so as to evolve realistic and integrated framework for the conservation of protected areas as well as for sustainable development of local people living interspersed them.
In view of this, study has been carried out in the buffer zone of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) located in newly carved Himalayan State of Uttarakhand in India. A comprehensive analysis and appraisal of local natural resources have been carried out using LISS – III and Panchromatic (PAN) merged data of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite – 1C (IRS – 1C) of March 2007. On screen visual recording and rectification techniques have been used for this purpose for the analysis of natural resources. In order to enhance the interpretability of the remote sensing data for digital analysis several image enhancement techniques, such as, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Normalized Deviation Vegetation Index (NDVI) etc. were employed, and large scale resource maps and detailed inventories of natural resources have been prepared. These maps were transformed into Geographic Information System (GIS) and a village level Natural Resources Information System (NRIS) has been developed to help implementing various rural development programmes by local government departments. Finally, a framework for integrated resource management and generating alternative traditional as well as non-traditional means of rural livelihood and employment has been evolved based on the availability of natural resources, people’s options and the developmental priorities of local government departments. (i) Cultivation, extraction and marketing of medicinal and aromatic plants and herbs, (ii) fodder and livestock development, (iii) village based eco-tourism, (iv) household level processing of local food produces, and (v) traditional woolen handicraft making emerged as the lead sectors of rural livelihood and employment in the region. The recommended framework has helped government agencies in making application of GIS based natural resources database for formulation and implementation of various rural development and ecological restoration programmes in the region.