Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable

Global policies to mitigate climate change and protect forests are increasingly incentivizing the large-scale planting of trees. Yet tree planting poses a potential threat to the well-being of migratory pastoralists who depend on fodder across landscapes. With this research we seek to understand the...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Vijay Ramprasad, Abha Joglekar, Forrest Fleischman
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Resilience Alliance 2020
Materias:	access afforestation institutions resilience transhumance Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7d12fa9cddaf4cc8879a411c4664b391
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:7d12fa9cddaf4cc8879a411c4664b391
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7d12fa9cddaf4cc8879a411c4664b3912021-12-02T18:04:53ZPlantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable1708-308710.5751/ES-11810-250401https://doaj.org/article/7d12fa9cddaf4cc8879a411c4664b3912020-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol25/iss4/art1/https://doaj.org/toc/1708-3087Global policies to mitigate climate change and protect forests are increasingly incentivizing the large-scale planting of trees. Yet tree planting poses a potential threat to the well-being of migratory pastoralists who depend on fodder across landscapes. With this research we seek to understand the impact of decades of afforestation activities in Himachal Pradesh, India, on the livelihoods of Gaddi pastoralists who have herded sheep and goats in the Himalayas for generations. Based on interviews with Gaddi herders, community leaders, and government officials, and case studies in three villages with large Gaddi populations in Kangra district, we find that plantations increase vulnerability. We show that plantations have decreased the availability of fodder, contributed to increased incidence of invasive species, disrupted migratory routes, and changed access to land. We develop a generalizable integrated vulnerability framework that focuses on pastoral livelihoods, and helps make a distinction between the vulnerability of livelihood activities and the vulnerability of individual people. Our framework anchors the causal pathway from plantation activity to livelihood vulnerability and the push toward more secure, but nonpastoral livelihoods. Plantation-driven challenges add to pre-existing stressors and accelerate declines in the number of pastoral households and size of migratory herds. However, many Gaddi households remain prosperous because they are able to diversify into alternative livelihoods. We underline the fact that the ability to adapt to alternative livelihoods and income streams differentiates vulnerable Gaddi herders from those who are not. In addition to increasing forest cover, plantations have an opportunity to serve a larger purpose of increasing resilience of vulnerable livelihoods; but they must be designed differently than they have been in the past in order to achieve this goal. They present an easier solution to sustain pastoralism compared to other important, but recalcitrant drivers of livelihood change.Vijay RamprasadAbha JoglekarForrest FleischmanResilience AlliancearticleaccessafforestationinstitutionsresiliencetranshumanceBiology (General)QH301-705.5EcologyQH540-549.5ENEcology and Society, Vol 25, Iss 4, p 1 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	access afforestation institutions resilience transhumance Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	access afforestation institutions resilience transhumance Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 Vijay Ramprasad Abha Joglekar Forrest Fleischman Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable
description	Global policies to mitigate climate change and protect forests are increasingly incentivizing the large-scale planting of trees. Yet tree planting poses a potential threat to the well-being of migratory pastoralists who depend on fodder across landscapes. With this research we seek to understand the impact of decades of afforestation activities in Himachal Pradesh, India, on the livelihoods of Gaddi pastoralists who have herded sheep and goats in the Himalayas for generations. Based on interviews with Gaddi herders, community leaders, and government officials, and case studies in three villages with large Gaddi populations in Kangra district, we find that plantations increase vulnerability. We show that plantations have decreased the availability of fodder, contributed to increased incidence of invasive species, disrupted migratory routes, and changed access to land. We develop a generalizable integrated vulnerability framework that focuses on pastoral livelihoods, and helps make a distinction between the vulnerability of livelihood activities and the vulnerability of individual people. Our framework anchors the causal pathway from plantation activity to livelihood vulnerability and the push toward more secure, but nonpastoral livelihoods. Plantation-driven challenges add to pre-existing stressors and accelerate declines in the number of pastoral households and size of migratory herds. However, many Gaddi households remain prosperous because they are able to diversify into alternative livelihoods. We underline the fact that the ability to adapt to alternative livelihoods and income streams differentiates vulnerable Gaddi herders from those who are not. In addition to increasing forest cover, plantations have an opportunity to serve a larger purpose of increasing resilience of vulnerable livelihoods; but they must be designed differently than they have been in the past in order to achieve this goal. They present an easier solution to sustain pastoralism compared to other important, but recalcitrant drivers of livelihood change.
format	article
author	Vijay Ramprasad Abha Joglekar Forrest Fleischman
author_facet	Vijay Ramprasad Abha Joglekar Forrest Fleischman
author_sort	Vijay Ramprasad
title	Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable
title_short	Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable
title_full	Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable
title_fullStr	Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable
title_full_unstemmed	Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable
title_sort	plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the indian himalaya vulnerable
publisher	Resilience Alliance
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/7d12fa9cddaf4cc8879a411c4664b391
work_keys_str_mv	AT vijayramprasad plantationsandpastoralistsafforestationactivitiesmakepastoralistsintheindianhimalayavulnerable AT abhajoglekar plantationsandpastoralistsafforestationactivitiesmakepastoralistsintheindianhimalayavulnerable AT forrestfleischman plantationsandpastoralistsafforestationactivitiesmakepastoralistsintheindianhimalayavulnerable
_version_	1718378694826786816

Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable

Ejemplares similares