Livelihood security for pastoral communities in Himalayan eco systems Dr. Singh Awadhesh Kr., Assistant Director Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies, Lucknow University, Lucknow. E-mail: awadhesh.rcues@gmail.com. Abstract One of the top priorities of the developing countriesis to create sustainable livelihoods on a large scale. Even in the poorest countries like India, the capacity of agriculture to absorb additional labour is rapidly diminishing, with the modernization, unplanned development, colonization and accelerated economy growth which have adversely affected the natural resources and consequently massive destruction. The loss of natural assets now acts as a major brake on the ability of economies to respond in the ever increasing needs of their population and its sustenance. The Indian Himalayan region cover about 18 per cent of country's geographical area and include 11 states and two hill districts of West Bengal. The whole Indian Himalayan region is characterized by high rate of occurrence of natural disasters, shifting cultivation, biological and eco-system diversity, etc. About 1/4th population of the region is reported to be living below poverty line while a significant proportion of population belongs to pastoral communities. Pastoralism makes a significant contribution to the economy of developing countries, both in terms of providing employment and income opportunities and in supplying nutrition to the rural poor; however, it is constantly threatened by inappropriate government policies. Pastorlism in Himalayan region is based on trans-human practices and involves cyclical movements from low lands to high lands to take advantage of seasonally available pastures at different elevation in the Himalayas. With the decreasing pasture land, disturbed migratory routes, decline in Jajmani rights, restriction of access to forest resources, enclosure of forests, expansion of irrigated agriculture, breakdown of village institutions, deterioration of pasture and common property resources, etc, the pastoral communities face severe problems and challenges for their livelihood security. Against this backdrop, present paper purports to review the socio-economic status of pastoral Communities their problems and prospects for livelihood security in the Himalayan region particularly in the states of Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh. Top |