Managing natural resources-3

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Dr Gursharan Singh Kainth

12 November, 2010

The part 3 of the series, talks about sustainable development and fusing of modern and traditional technologies for a better future

IN INDIA, forests have always been viewed as a timber provision store. Up until 1980 the forests contribution was no recognized and even now it is not counted in the national budget.

Notwithstanding the figures, the place of forests in the national economy was recognized when the National Agriculture Commission recommended a shift in forest policy from one based on direct benefits to that encompassing the total value of services rendered by the forests. After the new national forest policy announced in 1988, the official emphasis has been shifted to manage the forests for their services besides their potential for production of wood and timber.

There is need for paradigm shift of integrated management of natural resources through watershed approach, where the management of natural resources is integrated and sustained through their inter-dependence and inter-relatedness leading to improvement of the overall production system monitored jointly by the community and public sector managers.

Need-based cropping system/models in hills of north east India that have ability to conserve soil, moisture and nutrients instead of intensive farming systems or use of high yield varieties need to be developed.
National Bamboo Mission, a centrally-sponsored scheme commenced in 2006-07 with 100 per cent assistance, will promote the growth of the bamboo sector in the country through area based regionally differentiated strategies. For achieving the objectives of the Mission, it is necessary for the States to remove restrictions coming in the way of development of bamboo. Bamboo Plantation activities over 5 years would generate about 50.4 million man days of work.

To combat from the extreme climatic changes and to make the agriculture sustainable; farmers need to blend the modern as well as the traditional techniques. The most effective way to address climate change is to adopt a sustainable development pathway by shifting to environmentally sustainable technologies and promotion of energy efficiency, renewable energy, forest conservation, water conservation etc.

Application of best management practices in agriculture and use of bio-fuels for Green House Gas (GHG) mitigation, improving manure management to increase water retention, reduction or elimination of fallow periods between crops, land use changes to increase soil carbon, are some of the measures for mitigating climate change effects.

Though for the past two decades we are bearing the wrath of climate change, but still we lack a hard core policy to confront its consequences. We have to work with cooperation and have to implement a common policy in the South Asian region in order to overcome the wrath posed by the climate change. Inter-connectivity of these data systems under an over-arching system for management is largely missing. Developing a statistical system for informed decisions and better policies, which could help taking possible safeguards from catastrophes and develop a system for better mitigation and adaptation techniques, assumes a lot of significance.