Socio-economic and Eco-biological Dimensions in Resource use and Conservation

Overexploitation of natural resources coupled with anthropogenic climatic variations has put the ecosystem services under enormous pressure not only at macro levels but also at micro levels thereby presenting challenges in social, economic, ecological and biological fronts. Sustainable use of natural resources and their conservation strategies require interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary thinking. The threat is especially severe in regions where people’s livelihoods depend largely on natural resources. The objective of this book is to translate the body of scientific knowledge for proper conservation of natural resources and biodiversity in India’s sensitive eco-regions and use them sustainably in the interest of our future generations. It may contribute effectively to suggest possible roadmap as well as strategies to address livelihood issues locally and globally while ensuring inclusive growth and social inclusion at large.

Climate change is one of the most complex global environmental problems, impacting the physical and biological systems of aquatic, terrestrial and marine environments. India is among one of the most vulnerable countries that has already been experiencing changes in climate and the impacts of climate change. Various sectors such as agriculture, forestry, health, socio-economy, etc. have found to be severely affected by the implications of climate change in the country. Significant impacts over the forest ecosystems, global biodiversity and ecosystem integrity have also been observed in recent days. Apart from reduction in forest productivity, a shift in the forest type boundaries along altitudinal and rainfall gradients have been found. Loss of sea ice, rapid warming, and higher organic inputs affect marine and lake productivity, while combined impacts of wildfire and insect outbreaks decrease forest productivity. All these emerging uncertainties due to climate change have found to aggravate the problems of future food security within the country. Despite putting numerous efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, India has failed in responding sufficiently in dealing the issue of climate change. Thus, it is imperative to come up with more effective adaptation and mitigation strategies in order to combat the effects of climate change.

In past five decades (post 1960), humans have severely manipulated ecosystems of the country than ever before. Various natural and human induced factors have been direct or indirect drivers severely affecting ecosystems and biodiversity. However, impacts’ of these drivers have been seldom analyzed and hence, they remain mostly unidentified. Socio-economics is a relevant indirect driver that significantly affects the ecosystem functioning, by affecting the overall ecosystem goods and services. Socio-economic evaluations are fundamental to understand the scenarios and requirement of appropriate local and regional policy interventions that are desired to fit to the location specific requirements and dynamic patterns, coupled with the intrinsic ecosystems changes. Demands of life supporting biomass and exploitation of other forest resources are closely associated to local socio-economics. The forests of Central Himalayas are biodiversity hotspots and source of many ecosystem goods and services for the entire country. These forests appear to be limitless sources of provisioning, regulating, and supporting and cultural ecosystem services. Forests in Central Himalayas have been severely exploited in last few decades for various essential and subsistence demands of locals as well as other larger demands for development in the country. Degraded forest ecosystems generate limited goods and services and are not able to support good quality of life of marginal communities. It is vital to address dependence and requirements improving socio-economics of locals that leads to sustainable utilization of forest resources. Present chapter investigates socio-economic reasons, affecting forest health in Central Himalayas. Dynamics of social and economical set up driving change in forest resource use is imperative to identify opportunities for adaptive and sustainable forest management. Present study provides perspectives based on literature reviews, primary data collected from fields and socio-economic surveys based on informal group discussions and focused personal interviews. Study focuses on the need of developing and supporting existing local forest governance institutions for effective conservation of forests. Paper looks into future prospects and research needs concerning the assessment and management of forest ecosystem services by addressing socio-economics by targeting long-term conservation initiatives to achieve long term and short term biodiversity conservation targets.

Traditional agroforests, as one of the integrated approaches to environmental conservation has been considered as a superior system that permits significant and ecological interaction between the woody and non woody components. These traditional systems have been widely practiced by the people of Northeast India since time immemorial. A study has been conducted among three communities viz., Kalita (Assam) and Nyishi and Apatani (Arunachal Pradesh) of Northeast India to understand the structure, economy, soil quality and management aspects of traditional agroforestry systems. The study revealed that the systems have the potential to preserve the plant and animal diversity in different climatic zones of the region. Different plant species grown in these multistoried agroforestry systems are confounded by the livelihood requirements and traditional knowledge. The most prevalent agroforestry systems in Northeast India observed during the study are Agri-horti-silvi-pisciculture, Agri-horti-silviculture and Horti-silvi-pastoral systems. The systems have also been categorized on the basis of economic output viz., Subsistence-based agroforestry system, Semi-commercial agroforestry system and Commercial agroforestry system. Species composition of the traditional agroforestry systems also varied with residue management, soil and climate of the sites. The soil nutrient status of Agri-horti-silvi-pastoral systems shows more favourable soil physical, chemical and biological properties in comparison to other agroforestry systems. An understanding of indigenous practices, therefore, offers excellent opportunities for finding solutions to the problems of self reliance in agricultural development of the region.

Agrobiodiversity or agricultural biodiversity has become a major issue in the past few years in light of the growing rate of biological diversity loss and habitat destruction. India is one of the world’s largest and oldest agricultural societies and is one of the world’s eight centres of crop plant origin and diversity. At least 166 food/crop species and 320 wild relatives of crops have originated here, which include rice, pigeon pea, turmeric, banana, jackfruit, mango etc. Since the agrobiodiversity in South-East Asia is mainly maintained by rural communities in traditional farming systems—homegardens, shifting cultivation and rice fields, the majority of the agrobiodiversity analysis in the tropics have been focused on important traditional farming systems—Home-gardens, shifting cultivation and rice ecosystems. This paper has discussed the concepts of agrobiodiversity, its importance and the threats to its conservation in the context of northeast India. Some case studies on the agrobiodiversity conservation in the traditional home-gardens and the rice fields of the north-eastern region of India are highlighted to understand the status of agrobiodiversity in the region and the problems faced by the farmers. Rice farmers in northeast India maintain a diversity of rice crops which provide them the basis to adapt crops to heterogeneous and changing environments and to provide them with resistance to pests and diseases. Farmers in such traditional agricultural systems have been known to retain ‘folk-varieties’ also known as ‘landraces’, ‘farmers’ varieties’, ‘local varieties’ or ‘traditional varieties’ which have been bred and selected by farmers. Farmers in such areas maintain their farming systems on the basis of their intimate local knowledge about the rice varieties and their adaptation to specific soil quality and other environmental factors and even retain indigenous soil classification systems (Folk Soil Taxonomy) in their farming systems. Reports from Barak Valley, Assam, India indicate that subsistence based small holder farmers are the main managers and conservers of rice diversity with reports ranging from 38 to 25 rice varieties reported from different case studies of which records of traditional rice varieties ranged from 31 to 20. Traditional homegardens which are also an important ethnic agro-ecosystem of northeast India also play an important role in the conservation of agrobiodiversity in the region. Several varieties of fruits, vegetables, medicinal and aromatic plants are conserved in the homegardens of the region. Also there are few reports of wild plant diversity conservation in the homegardens which also have implications for the conservation of underutilized, wild and rare species in the face of the erosion of such species from the adjacent natural forests. However some problems such as land fragmentation, absence of labour, low economic incentives, low return from both the traditional rice farming and homegarden agroecosystem are resulting in a lower diversity of ‘landraces’ or ‘indigenous’ varieties. In view of the potential agrobiodiversity in the northeastern region it is essential to properly document them along with the socio-cultural practices and knowledge associated with them before they are lost to the conversion to modern agriculture or urbanization.

India’s rich biodiversity is distributed across its ecological regions. Traditional medicinal plants are recognised for their value and they constitute source of livelihood and food security for large Indian population. Cultivation of medicinal plants is also a source of income; thereby improve the standard of living for local communities and reduce poverty. Yet, today Indian medicinal habitat and ecosystem are going through tremendous pressure for meeting the requirement of various pharmaceutical and aroma-chemicals related industries. The objective of this paper is to synthesis the existing information on current status; explore the potential opportunities and constraints in medicinal plant cultivation in India. Based on the documentation of two cases i.e., Bhotiya tribe of Central Himalayan Region and Soliga tribe of Biligiri Ranga-swamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRTTR), an attempt has been made to suggest a framework for harnessing medicinal plant cultivation for promoting food security in India. Finally, SWOT analysis of medicinal plants and food security in India has been presented.

Vegetation of a tropical dry deciduous forest of Sathanur reserve forest, Eastern Ghats, India was analyzed by laying 30 square plots (1 ha). A total of 210 plant species (75 trees and herbs, 27 shrubs and 33 climbers) were enumerated. Species richness ranged 35–84/ha. The number of tree, shrub, herb and climber species in plots varied from 7–28/ha, 5–14/0.125 ha, 10–36/50 m² and 3–23/0.125 ha respectively. The basal area of trees ranged 7.23–43.05 m²/ha. Shannon’s index ranged from 0.716 to 2.343 for tree species. Albizia amara was the dominant tree species except for plot nos. 24 and 25, where Chloroxylon swietenia was dominant. In shrub community, Lantana camara and Clausena heptaphylla were the dominant species. Sida cordifolia and Ageratum conyzoides were the most abundant species in the herbaceous community. In climbers, Pterolobium hexapetalum was the dominant species. The dominance of ruderal weeds and exotics in the understory indicates that this forest is under the threat of anthropogenic pressure although it has been declared as a reserve forest. The present study reveals that differences in microclimate, level and kind of anthropogenic perturbation, and edaphic characteristics among the plots could be the reason for the significant spatial variation in species richness and density among the plots even though they are located within 10 km radius. However, this forest ecosystem restores rich flora similar to other tropical dry forests in India and elsewhere. To impede the plant invasion, timely measures are to be adopted to eliminate invasive species in order to retain and conserve the native diversity.

A bio-inventory of herpetofauna occurring in Amchang wildlife sanctuary was made along with identification of perceived threats, the herpetofauna faces in the sanctuary. During the study period 22 species of amphibians representing seven families and 41 species of reptiles representing eleven families were encountered. According to conservation concern based on categorization by IUCN redlist, amongst amphibians a single species was vulnerable, four species were data deficient and the rest were least concern and amongst reptiles, two species were vulnerable, 13 species were least concern and the rest of 26 species were yet to be evaluated. According to India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, 13 species of amphibians fall under Schedule IV; five, three and twenty species of reptile come under Schedule I, schedule II and Schedule III respectively. The remaining species are non-scheduled. The major threats in the sanctuary includes habitat degradation, encroachment of forest land and lack of people awareness regarding herpetofauna.

Rowa wildlife sanctuary is the smallest of the four wildlife sanctuaries of Tripura comprising of an area of 0.860 km². In this study we recorded 20 species of amphibians representing 6 families and 33 species of reptiles representing 9 families. One of the amphibian species namely Hoplobatrachus litoralis is a first record from India. During the survey we encountered open turtle trade being conducted in the markets of Agartala. The prime species involved in the flesh trade are Nilssonia hurum and Lissemys punctata andersoni. Both the species are under Schedule I of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Trillium govanianum is an endemic medicinal herb of the Himalayan region. Recently explored active constituents and their pharmacological activities from the species are of prime importance. Its range of distribution is highly specific in Indian Himalayas. Collection of its rhizome has become one of the significant commercial activity in the Indian Himalayas. However, the  collection of the species is unsustainable. Understanding the socio-ecological dynamics of a species and carving out the prospects for its sustainable use is a difficult task in the Himalayas. Effective conservation strategies are needed to conserve the species while maintaining community incomes. The present chapter provides an overview of the biology, uses and conservation approaches that can be followed for the sustainable utilization of T. govanianum in Indian Himalayas.

Asiatic elephants have been involved in severe conflicts with the people residing in the fringes of Abhaypur Reserve Forest, Northeast India. An attempt was made for the first time ever to assess this problem in these areas. During this study, a closed-ended questionnaire survey was conducted in selected fringe villages of the protected area. The aim was to evaluate the issue from the socioeconomic point of view and also develop a general understanding about the conflict elephants as well as control measures applied. It was revealed that the elephants were responsible for widespread agricultural loss, property damage and human attacks. This resulted in severe consequences upon the financially weak rural population. Due to rampant crop raid, people were also bound to abandon agricultural land and convert paddy fields into tea gardens. The chief control measures applied included crackers, fire and noise, which were not fully effective. The issue has magnified itself into a formidable conservation challenge in the area and needs to be addressed immediately.  This would enable humans and elephants to co-exist peacefully around the forest. Human–elephant conflicts around Abhaypur highlight the fact that wildlife can exert widespread impacts upon the human society.

Eutrophication and species invasion are formidable problems triggered by the effects of anthropogenic activities in the aquatic environment. Several researchers have highlighted the synergistic impact of climate change on specific aspects of the two problems separately. There is a need of scientific literature that depicts all the existing inter linkages simultaneously so that a complete understanding could be developed. This would enable the development of appropriate mitigation measures; especially in the present times when ecosystems are exposed to multiple environmental issues. The present review addresses this lacuna in the aquatic ecosystem and is the first hand approach to simultaneously link climate change with eutrophication and species invasion. Statistical analysis revealed that such linkages play an important role in magnifying the issues and should always be considered while devising mitigation measures. Aquatic ecosystems can then be effectively conserved and protected against the harmful effects of global change.

Wildlife conservation perspective generally refers to the attitude of local people living in and around protected areas towards conservation of wild animals and plant species in their natural habitat. Socio-economic dependency of rural communities on natural resources very often for livelihood purposes leads to negative attitudes towards conservation. Rising human population, intensified land use, human pressure on animals, modification of natural resources, habitat fragmentation and lack of foresight in the implementation of policies have been linked with disputes affecting the rural communities living in and around protected areas and their socio-economic development. Information on perceptions and attitudes of local communities is important to identify proper management programmes and strategies that best suit the conservation of biodiversity alongside the socio-economic development of local communities dependent on forests for their livelihood. Borail Wildlife Sanctuary is the only wildlife sanctuary in the southern part of Assam. The sanctuary is important biologically as it supports the Cachar Tropical Evergreen Forest and many rare and unique species. In recent times, anthropogenic pressure on forest and wildlife is on the rise because of the increasing human population around the sanctuary. In the present study, conservation studies were undertaken among the fringe villagers of Borail Wildlife Sanctuary (i) to understand attitude and perception towards forest and wildlife conservation, and (ii) to assess their socio-economic dependency on forest and wildlife. The fringe villagers of Borail Wildlife Sanctuary were found to possess a positive attitude towards the sanctuary as a whole which is essential for participatory conservation and management programme in this protected area situated in the vulnerable eco-region of north east India. The dominance of utilitarian value among the local communities indicate towards their social and economic dependency on the Borail Wildlife Sanctuary, particularly for collecting firewood, constructing huts (kutcha houses), cultivation of beetle vine (pan jhum) etc. Acceleration of soil erosion and accentuation in the variability of rainfall distribution as a result of long term shifting cultivation in Borail Wildlife Sanctuary might be detrimental for conservation of wildlife and biodiversity. This necessitates sanctuary-community interaction for strengthening the sanctuary-community relationship in order to persuade the local communities to take up alternative forms of livelihood in order to protect the sanctuary. However, the local villagers were not willing to take part in the current conservation activities which may be attributed to their low level of education and lack of environmental awareness. The traditional beliefs of a section of fringe villagers particularly in protecting non-human primates and banyan trees hold key to participatory wildlife and biodiversity conservation programmes, which the government agencies, policymakers as well as non-governmental organizations might utilize for successful protected area management coupled with enhanced education and creation of awareness among local communities. Moreover, creation of wildlife corridors across the national highway might help save many wild animals of the Borail Wildlife Sanctuary (which is particularly rich in reptile biodiversity) from road kills by speeding vehicles.

Assessing carbon sequestration by measuring above ground and below ground biomass with non destructive method is globally acknowledged. The studies from forest ecosystem have made a significant contribution in quantifying carbon stock. This type of study has now gaining importance in urban ecosystems. Most of the institutions and universities have natural forest and manmade plantations are now assessing carbon stocks in India and elsewhere. In the present study Kuvempu university campus which is a part of Central Western Ghats was assessed. The total area of the campus covers 326.21 acres with dry deciduous forest of Bhadra tiger reserve. A total of 5596 individuals were recorded with a carbon stock of 457.0 t ha⁻¹ and the dominant Terminalia paniculata contributed a total of 13% of carbon stock. The storing capacity varies with species diversity, disturbance gradient and phenology. This pilot study has made an attempt in advertising the present area in global carbon stock assessment. Therefore, every educational institutions/universities can easily contribute to global CO₂ mitigation by restoring the native species in their campus and even it supports biodiversity and helps in future long term monitoring.

India is a mega diverse country and is known for its prodigious biodiversity encompassing varied floral and faunal species, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and rich agricultural and genetic diversity. However, factors like hotspots, extinction of species, changes in the climatic conditions, adverse effects of pollution, decline of traditional knowledge and alien invasive species are a threat to India’s Biodiversity. Effective measures have been taken by formulation of legislative and national policies in line with NBSAP (National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan) stated under the Convention on Biological Diversity. The implementation of these measures is supervised from grass root level to national level to combat the biodiversity loss. There are several success stories which highlight the initiatives taken up towards safeguarding and enriching India’s rich biodiversity of which two case studies have been discussed in this chapter.

This chapter makes a novel attempt to examine food insecurity in India and its variations across space and different social and religious groups. It further intends to examine the impact of weather shock on food insecurity in India and also identify the socio-economic factors that affect the same. The results of analysis based on the second round of India Human Development Survey, 2011–12 reveals large variations in the extent of household level food insecurity across India and also its various socio-religious groups. The binary logistic regression results show that weather shocks have a positive impact on the probability of a household to be food insecure. Moreover, size of households, dependency ratio, poverty and urban residence make a household more likely to be food insecure. On the other hand, per capita income, female adult education, remittances and cultivation as the main occupation reduce the probability of food insecurity.

This study focuses on climate change issues in mango cultivation among the Gir Kesar mango producers in Gujarat. The Gir Kesar region that consists of Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts, has been experiencing production losses in the recent past due to changes in climatic factors like rise in temperatures, prolonged winter and unseasonal rains. These changes have also resulted in increased pest attack and poor quality mangoes. The net income realised by farmers in mango farming is quiet low. Lack of awareness of proper pesticide use leads to farmers using harmful pesticides. Some of the climate change adaptation strategies suggested by the agricultural scientists include adopting (a) drip irrigation methods, (b) high density plantation (HDP) and (c) shelter belts. Drip irrigation method would restrict the excessive ground water extraction and in the years of reduced rainfall would also check the salinity ingress.

With increasing malnourishment and being home for a large number of vegetarian populations compared to the rest of the world, India considers Chickpeas as the best alternative for animal proteins. Chickpeas, enriched with high protein content has been gaining importance in the present era as they serve as a supplement for cereal based diets. Climate change as the major challenge faced by other crops, cultivation of chickpeas will become increasingly important in the near future. In the recent times, the traditional chickpeas cultivating area had witnessed reduction in its area and production. At the same time there is an increase in the area under chickpeas cultivation in their unconventional zones of the country. The current study examines the changing patterns in the centre of chickpeas production in India. State wise yearly data on area, production and yield of chickpeas are collected from 1964–65 to 2016–17. The analysis of the data reveals that there is a regional shift in chickpeas cultivation from Northern and Eastern Zones to Southern, Central and Western Zones of the country. The major reason for this regional shift is the changing climate and rainfall pattern and availability of short-duration cultivars in Central and Southern India which are absent in Northern and Eastern Zones.

Forest resources have both economic and ecological significance. However, rapid expansion of non-forest activities at the expense of natural forests has become a serious threat to forest resource all over the world. This paper makes an attempt to understand livelihood strategies, cultivation method and perception about climate change in Khonoma Village of the state of Nagaland, India. The study is based on primary data collected through field survey. Our analysis reveals that all the villagers of Khonoma depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihood, however, the focus of activity in the present days is shifting towards cash crops. There are mainly two types of cultivation method followed: Jhum Cultivation and Wet Rice Cultivation, the later being the dominant type of cultivation in the present time. The major crops that villagers grow in the present time in Khonoma includes rice, chilli, tomatoes, brinjal, ginger, garlic, pumpkin, cucumber, gourd, yam, lentils, beans, sesame, maize, millet, and job’s tears. When asked if they have ever heard of what ‘Climate Change’ means from any source, around 93% of the respondent said that they have heard about the term mostly from television. Causes of climate change are reported to be different by the different respondents, but none of the respondent considered shifting cultivation causes deforestation thus contributes to climate change.

Peri-urban landscapes are highly dynamic with regard to their land use, social, economic and ecological constructs. Urbanization has its impact outside its boundary and is determined by the types of services and resources provided by the peripheral areas to the city. Increasing pressure on the natural resources to meet the urban and peri-urban needs leads to jeopardized ecosystems which adversely affect the livelihoods of natural resource dependent peri-urban and rural population. This paper intends to look into the general environmental concerns in the context of Indian peri-urban areas. It analyses the pattern of natural resource use for acquiring livelihoods and unsustainable practices in a peri-urban landscape of Guwahati city, northeast India. A cross-sectional analysis, dividing the landscape into three sections with differential urban impacts have shown that, there have been degradation of resources although increase in income from a few natural resources, particularly aquatic resource. The collection of forest resources other than the non-timber forest products (NTFPs) found decreasing in all the three sections of the landscape. The study findings have implications for landscape planning which concludes that the impacts of unplanned urban activities affecting the natural resources in the fringe areas have been realized by the local population. Although expansion of the city has acknowledged the area as eco-sensitive zone, further policy revision is essential to conserve ecosystem and to ensure sustainable and enhanced ecosystem services to cater the needs of both rural and urban population.

The rapid alteration in the global climate due to anthropogenic activities has profound eco-biological impacts, which invariably affect the ability of natural communities to effectively perform ecosystem services. The eco-biological impacts could be viewed across various dimensions including loss of biodiversity as well as ecosystem goods and services, changes in phenology, prevalence of droughts and forest fires, disease outbreaks, reduced crop yields and increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. Although, the natural ecosystems are innately endowed with the ability to maintain homeostasis by means of resistance and resilience, this ability to cope up is severely impacted by various other factors like deforestation, habitat fragmentation, land-use change and biological invasion, which exacerbate the effects of climate change. The eco-biological impacts of climate change are tied with socio-economic aspects by means of market values of the produce, poverty, undernourishment, livelihood security, etc. At this crucial juncture, forest biomes offer an immense ecosystem service towards climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration. Nevertheless, the three major forest biomes, viz. tropical, temperate and boreal, with their unique characteristics, vary in their response to climate change as well as mitigation potential and response. This review chapter aims to understand the varied climate change impacts and the crucial roles of major forest biomes in climate change mitigation and their various ecological services to formulate better forest management strategies.

Global scientific community has a near unanimous consensus that anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases and thus their rising atmospheric concentration are causing global warming and other climatic changes. According to the IPCC, global average annual mean surface air-temperature is projected to rise between 1.4 and 5.8 °C by 2100. This rise in temperature will impose various climate related incidents like drought, forest fires, typhoons, more intense hurricanes, and frequent storms. Due to the decrease in air quality, human health related problems in future will be catastrophic. Considering the present climate trend, climate scientists are speculating that new ecosystems will be emerged and existing ecosystems will be wiped out in future and this shift in biomes will be irreversible. The multivariate factors of climate change are supposed to have an effect on all the levels of biodiversity, starting from organism to biome levels. Not only ecosystem destruction but also climate migration is a major issue at present because this migration is directly impacting the socio-economic profile of many countries. Many governmental and non-governmental organisations have predicted that a billion people may be displaced by 2050 as a result of environmental causes, and climate change will be one of the major contributors. It has been found that people are less bothered about climate change and this issue is in their lowest priority list as people think they are not personally responsible for climate change and has seen climate change as a global effect. Ignorance and greed of the people sometimes leads them to violate the natural/environmental rules and as a result negative consequences of climate change are the obvious outcomes of these unethical activities.

Use of natural resources largely determines the standard of living that human societies enjoy. Steady increase in worldwide use of biotic and abiotic resources (such as water, air, soil, biodiversity, land as habitat etc.) for a range of societal purposes (such as wind power, solar power, tidal flows etc.) have been linked with rapid population growth. Current as well as potential future flows of income are often associated with the economic significance of natural resources. In the poorest regions of the world, such resources form the basis for the wealth generation and hence are also considered as the basis of livelihoods. In such poor rural communities, a reduction in stocks of natural capital and flows of ecosystem services may disproportionately harm their wellbeing. Although a number of reports are available at regional, national and global levels that deal with climate smart livelihoods and socio-ecological development, for a mega-diverse country like India the studies which mostly cover the national status are not going to propose the sound approaches for the people and landscape of its varied agro-climatic regions. The purpose of this volume is to provide findings of different and differing studies done in diverse agro-climatic zones to the stakeholders in a compiled and comprehensive manner to enable them to inject the research findings in reframing or reorientating the policies (if necessary) that are required as strategies for sustainable socio-ecological development, natural resource management and biodiversity conservation.