Year: 2024
Type: review
Abstract: Forests play a vital role in sustaining the livelihoods of over 300 million forest-dependent people in India.This review examines the opportunities and challenges presented by forest-based livelihoods.A wide range of sources indicate that non-timber forest products (NTFPs) like tendu leaves, bamboo, and medicinal plants contribute substantially to rural incomes and employment generation.Forests also provide essential provisioning services like fuel wood, fodder, and grazing land that support livelihoods.However, communities face pressures from unsustainable extraction practices and lack of secure tenure that degrade forests and undermine long-term incomes.Other constraints include dependence on single NTFPs, elite capture of benefits, low wages, and vulnerability to climate change impacts and market risks.Strategies suggested to promote sustainable use include strengthening community rights, diversifying productive tree species and alternative opportunities, restoring degraded forests through joint management programs, reviving traditional knowledge systems, and building rural capacities.Studies evaluating India's joint forest management program and forest rights recognition show these aim to balance conservation with development objectives but have had mixed outcomes.An analysis of evidence around factors influencing forest access, dependency trends, and successful approaches provides insights for policymakers to safeguard forest-based rural livelihoods.
Source: PLANT ARCHIVES
Authors: Priti Singh, S. S. Dhuria, Neha Soan, Kuldeep Chauhan, Kamesh Kamesh, Shraddha Pandey
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4403267480