The natural resource Management in Eastern Himalaya : A case Study of Fringe Villages of Shergaon Forest division , Arunachal Pradesh

Natural resource management (NRM) has been considered as one of the important sociocultural practices of the local community since time immemorial. It has been practiced worldwide for meeting the social, cultural and economic needs. The eastern Himalaya is world widely renowned as a biodiversity hotspot1. The traditional knowledge system (TKS) of local people is unique and is used for managing the valuable natural resources2,3. However, resource utilization is mostly done at sustenance level4,5. Traditional forest management is an important aspect of NRM that has direct or indirect link with other land use systems like farming system, agroforestry, etc4. The informal institution, locally known as village council, plays a significant role in the management and resolving inter/intra village conflict in NRM practices6,7. The natural resource Management in Eastern Himalaya: A case Study of Fringe Villages of Shergaon Forest division, Arunachal Pradesh


IntroductIon
Natural resource management (NRM) has been considered as one of the important sociocultural practices of the local community since time immemorial.It has been practiced worldwide for meeting the social, cultural and economic needs.The eastern Himalaya is world widely renowned as a biodiversity hotspot 1 .The traditional knowledge system (TKS) of local people is unique and is used for managing the valuable natural resources 2,3 .However, resource utilization is mostly done at sustenance level 4,5 .Traditional forest management is an important aspect of NRM that has direct or indirect link with other land use systems like farming system, agroforestry, etc 4 .The informal institution, locally known as village council, plays a significant role in the management and resolving inter/intra village conflict in NRM practices 6 , 7 .The

natural resource Management in Eastern Himalaya: A case Study of Fringe Villages of Shergaon Forest division, Arunachal Pradesh
GoVIndA PAnGGInG*, MAdHubAlA SHArMA, cHAMAn lAl SHArMA and ArIbAM SAndEEP SHArMA traditional knowledge of ethnic community helps in the utilization & conservation of natural resources 8 .
Arunachal Pradesh is one of the 29 states of India, which is an integral part of eastern Himalaya 9 .It has diverse ethnicity, biological diversity, endemism and unique natural resource management practices.The Shedukpen tribe is one of the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh and mainly settled in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh 10.The agriculture is the main occupation of Sherdukpen tribe 11 and they also practice terrace cultivation for agriculture 12 .The main agricultural and horticultural crops raised are tomato, potato and apple 11 .The faunal resources are conserved at the regional level through imposing taboos, totem and establishment of sacred sites 13 , 14 .The religious practices of the tribe also help in the conservation of biological diversity by utilizing certain plants 15 .The village council of Sherdukpen is called Jung and it play an important role in the management and conservation of natural resources 10 .Hunting has been considered as a traditional practice of Sherdukpen tribe and the village council played an important role in its regulation at village level 13 .The forest has been classified into five types: Blu dongsek (Community forest), khik donsek (Village forest), Sangthing dongsek (Individual forest), Donsek achok (Sacred groves) and Nyor see (grazing land) 10 .
The present study aims to document the NRM practices of Sherdukpen tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, which may help in the conservation of biological resources and also assist in finding the gap in the existing NRM practices, which will collectively contribute in the attainment of sustainable development through NRM 16,17,18 .

MAtErIAlS And MEtHodS
Three fringe villages of Shergaon Forest Division, Arunachal Pradesh viz.Membachur, Mukhuthing and Thongre have been selected for the study.The study site is located in the West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh.It is situated between 91 °30' to 92 °40' E longitude and 26 0 56' to 28 0 01' N latitude.The land use pattern of the West Kamang district consisted of cultivable land, forest land, pastoral land, etc. (Table 1).The household survey was done with standardized questionnaire through random sampling and 97 households were interviewed.The information related to social aspect, economical aspect and ecological aspect were collected from the respondents based on age groups, educational status, gender, village head (gaon Bura), etc.The data was collected for a period of 4 months i.e., December, 2011 to April, 2012.

Socioeconomic condition
Sherdukpen tribe is found to be the dominant tribe among the selected villages viz., Membachur, Mukhuthing and Thongri.About 90% of the respondent follows the Buddhism religion.The prevalent family type found is joint family that ranges from 78% to 86%.The highest number of family members per household is found in Membachur village, which is 6 (six), followed by Thongri (5)  and Mukhuthing (5).The highest literacy rate is found in Thongri village, which is 61%, followed by Membachur (40%) and Mukhuthing (35%).In all the selected villages, traditional village council and Panchayati raj institution are co-existing and plays an important role in the management of natural resources (Table 2).
The average annual income of the household of the selected fringe villages varies from Rs. 47,000 to Rs. 1,35,000.Farming is the main occupation of the tribe that ranges from 90% to 95%.However, merely 5% to 15% of the populations are under government job (Table 3).
The highest average agricultural land holding per household (HH) is found in Thongri village, which is about 1.2 ha, followed by Membachur village (0.8 ha) and Mukhuthing village (0.72 ha).The highest average forest land holding per HH is found in both Mukhuthing village and Membachur village which is about 0.8 ha (Table 4).

documentation of natural resource Management of Sherdukpen tribe
The NRM practices of the Sherdupen tribe consists of traditional maize cultivation, community forest, individual forest management, etc. (Table 5).
In the present study, agriculture is reported as the main occupation of Sherdukpen tribe, which is similar to the findings of Shimrah et al. 11 .The leaves of Quercus sp. is traditionally utilized for Zea mays cultivation, which help in replenishing the nutrient loss, mulching, etc., and similar finding was reported by Dollo et al. 10  • The village council and Panchayat assist in the protection of the forest resources.
• Trespass in the forest is prohibited.
• Felling of trees for personal use are not allowed viz., fuelwood, small timber etc.
• The forest resources are allowed to extract only in case of conducting the religious ritual / ceremony and festivals at village level.
Community forest (to meet the daily needs of the people): • The village council and Panchayat assist in the protection of the forest resources.
• The forest is managed through traditional methods, and however no scientific interventions are done.
• The forest resources are extracted solely for meeting the sustenance requirement such as fuelwood, small timber, etc.However, no commercial extraction is allowed.
Role of customary laws.
• Village council plays an important role in the management of CF.
• In CF, encroachment of land is prohibited.
• Involvement of community in the protection of growing stock of CF especially against forest fire.
• Sherdukpen tribe observes 8th, 15th and 30th days of a month as a rest day and they do not involve in any activities in the forest such as hunting, logging, etc.Unfortunately, if anyone breaks the rules either by accident or intentionally then penalties are imposed in the form of fine.
• The extraction of forest resources for commercial purposes is prohibited and if done, then the penalty is imposed, which may be extended to Rs.15000 by the village council.

Individual forests Ownership
This type of forest is owned by individual household.It plays a significant role in meeting the needs of the family and also improves the socioeconomic conditions of household.

Management practice
• The management and protection of individual forests are done solely by the individual owner.However, in case of forest fire, the community helps in extinguishing uncontrolled forest fire.
• Trespass is prohibited in such forest.
• Forest resources are extracted to meet household requirement.However, in certain cases, extraction of forest resources allows for meeting forest resource requirement of the monastery (gumpas) and also for community level rituals, ceremonies, festival, etc.
• The forest resources are extracted both at subsistence & commercial level.
• The village council & Panchayat plays an important role in resolving dispute related to forest resources within village jurisdiction.

Penalty
The following penalties imposed: • Illicit felling and removal of forest resources without the permission of the owner, in such cases, the offender has to return the harvested forest produces viz., fuelwood, timber, etc. or have to pay in cash equivalent to the price of forest resources.
• Encroachment is prohibited in individual forest, if it is done, then penalty imposed on offender based on village council decision.

Fishing Technique
Fishing is also an important traditional practice of resource extraction, which is done at subsistence level.The fishing practice is mostly done in Mukuthing village (50%), followed by Memachur village (45%) and Thonri (30%).

Management
The small trees are felled in the forest for fuel wood purposes, which are left for a few days for drying.
In case of medium size trees, logs are converted into smaller sections of size like 1m to 2 m length with saws and axes.After complete drying, fuelwoods are collected manually or with small truck.

Village wise
Hunting is considered as a traditional practice and it is found higher in Mukhuting village i.e., 65%, followed by Membachur village (60%) and Thungri (30%).
al. 10 .Hunting has been reported to be traditional practices of Sherdukpen, which is similar to the finding of Mazumdar et al. 13 .The village council is a traditional institution, which plays an important role in the management and conservation of forest resources, which is similar to findings of Mazumdar et al. 13 .
The NRM practices of the Sherdukpen tribes are diverse and this practice not only helps in meeting the basic needs of the community but also helps in the protection of biological diversity.At present, the traditional land use systems are under constant anthropogenic pressure due to change in land use pattern.In Arunachal Pradesh, the area of maize cultivation has been declining gradually from 15.1% (1990-91) to 12.07% (2013-14) 18 .A similar trend has been found in the studied fringe villages of the Shergaon Forest Division.Although, the traditional maize cultivation provides various goods and environmental services viz.staple food, supplements the fodder requirement during the winter, soil and water conservation, conservation of Quercus sp., etc.This form of farming need to be preserved and restored as it fulfills all the aspects of sustainable development principle.At present, the area under horticultural crop in Arunachal Pradesh has tremendously increased from 7.4% (1990-91) to 22.86% (2013-14) 18 .Both cash cropping and horticultural crop are also exerting pressure on the Community forest land, which are gradually converted due to better economic return and scarcity of land resource.Moreover, the use of inorganic chemical inputs in these land use systems is a matter of concern, which needs to be replaced with organic farming and complimentary land use systems.

concluSIon
The NRM practices of Sherdukpen tribe consist of traditional maize cultivation, cash cropping, horticultural crop, individual forest and community forest management.These natural resource management practices meet all the needs of the community viz., social, cultural and economic needs.However, change in forest and traditional agricultural land use system to cash cropping and horticulture may affect the traditional NRM practices of Sherdukpen tribe in the long run and is a matter of concern from the conservation of biological diversity point of view.At the transaction stage of state development, the interlinking of sectoral policies should be emphasized and there should be a synergy between development activities and conservation of biological diversity at all levels.

table 3 : Economic aspect of the Shedukpen tribe. Particular Village Membachur Mukhuthing thongri
. Forest played an important role in meeting the needs of social, cultural and religious aspect of Sherdukpen tribe.It has been classified based on ownership, such as (i) community forest and (ii) individual forest.The community forest (CF) is further classified into two sub-types based on the function such as (i) CF (exclusively for religious purposes) and (ii) CF (meeting the requirement of the local people).However, five types of forest have been reported based on land use viz., community forest, village forest, individual forest, sacred groves and community grazing land by Dollo et