Conserving biodiversity of community forests and rangelands of a hot arid region of India

Community forests/rangelands, called Orans and Gauchars in the western arid part of India, constitute a significant proportion of the total geographical area of the region. Given the economic importance of these areas from time immemorial, the local people took special care to protect and sustainably utilize these common property resources. However, these forests and rangelands have suffered severe degradation in the recent past. Rehabilitation of Orans and Gauchars needs proper planning and execution of a technically feasible package, tailored to suit their unique edaphic, climatic, vegetation, social and legal status. Keeping in view the vast potential of these areas to sustain large scale livestock farming for overall economic upliftment of the local population, there is an urgent need to rehabilitate these degraded areas in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Salient problems faced by these natural assets of western Rajasthan and strategies for their rehabilitation have been discussed in the paper.

Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights▶ Information about the optimal stocking rates and productivity status of community forests/rangelands need to be updated. ▶ Group consensus among stakeholders should be encouraged in decision making for management of these areas and to avoid possible conflicts. ▶ Political parties in the centre and states have to rise above petty politics level for the betterment of common property resources in fragile hot desert ecosystems. ▶ Remote sensing data should extensively be used to monitor the status of these areas. ▶ Traditional knowledge of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use should be recognized by policy makers.