Kumaun Himalayas

Sudha Gunavante is a contented woman. She has reason to be. After all, she and her husband have managed to prosper on their farm, her children are well-educated and well-settled, and her rhododendron syrup is the pride of the village. If that is not enough, she has also managed to escape a centuries-old curse.

If you thought that Uttarakhand was a land populated solely by tourists, I wouldn’t blame you. After all, that’s been the focus of the media in relation to who’s been affected by the recent floods – pilgrims at the Char Dhams and at Hemkund Sahib. The numbers are staggering, no doubt.

Throughout history, the Uttarakhand Himalayas have been a source of timber and water to the rest of the nation. However, this has led to severe depletion of resources in the state. Today, the mountain communities find it hard to meet their basic needs of fodder, fuel and water.

Uttarakhand is blessed with an immense amount of natural resources such as forests, wildlife and water, but if you are looking for some research-based information that quantifies, classifies and organizes this information, there isn’t much out there.

Ufrenkhal – the village
Driving towards Ufrenkhal, a village in Pauri Garhwal (Uttarakhand), I see a lush, green mountain covered with deodar, banj and utees trees. Little did I realize that this diverse and dense forest, which is alive with wildlife, is very new. 40 years ago, this vast area was a firing range!

Author : Neelima Garg

It takes apple as an indicator crop to investigate the positive and negative effects of climate change on farm economy. The research is a field study to determine the agricultural and socioeconomic impact of climate change on the farmers apple economy of the Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh, India.

 Mountain areas and communities are susceptible to climate change. This work also yielded evidence of the coping strategies developed by the communities to deal with an unprecedented and only partially understood threat. This paper describes these strategies and attempts to assess the vulnerability of the communities in each valley.

As observed by the United Nations Environment Program (GRID-Arendal) ice and snow are major components of the climate system. That is why human induced climate change can be first observed in Polar Regions where most of Earth's snow and ice are concentrated. In these areas global warming induces the progressive melting of ice and snow.

The report highlights how traditionally, local communities exercised rights of ownership, use and management over their natural resources in the Himalayan states. They devised a variety of management systems suited to their own specific situation. Sanskar (precepts and rites), sanskriti (culture and customary practices) and niti (state policy and administration) were the bases of water harvesting traditions and their longevity. Individual dharma and social customs were the necessary conditions for sustaining these traditions, while local autonomy in resource management was the critical sufficient condition.