Changing Livelihood Strategies: Reconciling Forest Resource-Use, Conservation, and Poverty Alleviation in the Conservation Reserve of the Western Ghats

Abstract

<p><i>'Changing Livelihood Strategies in the Conservation Reserves of the Western Ghats'</i> explores changes in the livelihood strategies used by communities living in the forests of the Uttara Kannada region located within the Western Ghats hotspot in southern India. Conservation targets in the area have resulted in large tracts of Uttara Kannada's forests to be included into IUCN Category VI Protected Areas, called Conservation Reserves. Complex interactions between resource management policies and local socio-economic, political, environmental, institutional structures, and regulatory processes threaten the livelihood security of the many population groups that live here and are heavily dependent on forest resources for their livelihoods. Evidence from historical archives and from the communities themselves, indicate the exploitation of Uttara Kannada's forests by successive forest administration regimes from colonial and post-colonial times, in the process, displacing livelihoods and driving many sections of the community into landlessness and poverty. The recognition of the Western Ghats as a biodiversity hotspot can be perceived as a repeat of this trend, but from a conservation perspective.</p><p> This study set out to examine livelihood changes in the forests of Uttara Kannada and to document any changes in access to livelihood assets that have traditionally been available to forest-dwelling households in the forests of the Aghanashini LTM Conservation Reserve and the Bedthi Conservation Reserve. In the process, the study compiled a detailed profile of Uttara Kannada's forest-dwelling society, describing local communities and their traditional forest use and land-use patterns, their livelihood characteristics, their political and social organisation, and the historical legacy of the region. The forest dependence patterns, and the socio-ecological and socio-political background of the local communities have an important bearing on the livelihood strategies they use. This study found changes in the livelihood strategies used by households in the forests of the ACR and BCR with loss of some and addition of other strategies to their livelihood portfolios. The livelihood assets that forest households traditionally had access to, had also changed over the years. Although NTFP extraction continued to be the most used livelihood strategy, the levels of involvement and income earned from it varied. Besides NTFP extraction, a range of diverse livelihood strategies were also used by households to earn income. The study also shows how caste, 9 gender and social status, continue to mediate livelihood activities in the forests of Uttara Kannada, where each caste or endogamous group occupies specific 'ecological niches' that they have traditionally inherited. These factors were seen to dictate each household's access to livelihood assets and thereby to the livelihood strategies they used to earn income. Importantly, narrow, heavily forest-dependent, livelihood portfolios, were seen to limit the household's ability to build livelihood capital, thus increasing its vulnerability, and often driving it out of its traditional livelihood activities and into casual manual labour. The study concludes that the land-use and resource-use regulations passed by village-level institutions were influenced by the heavy conservation focus prevailing in these forests, which contributed to livelihood loss and deprivation of households from landless and minority communities. However, for other sections of the community, access to livelihood improvement, and livelihood development opportunities encouraged livelihood diversification and a stronger engagement in the local economy.</p><p> The Sustainable Livelihood Framework has been a reliable tool at representing the real time impacts or benefits of local institutions, processes, and regulations on local livelihoods. Given the paucity of livelihood research in the study area, this thesis makes useful empirical and methodological contributions towards the evidence base of forest livelihood impacts in conservation locations. This study also concludes that poverty is an overarching reality in the Conservation Reserves of Uttara Kannada, where some sections of the community have experienced livelihood loss leading to deprivation and poverty. While, biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation are both important goals demanding attention, particularly in the threatened biodiversity-rich, Western Ghats hotspot, improving synergies between forest-based livelihoods, conservation and poverty alleviation becomes a priority.</p>