Image: sayannalanda via Wikimedia Commons
Forests provide livelihoods to people who live in the vicinity. However, this often results in the over-exploitation of forest resources and poses a challenge for the sustainable management of forests.
It is not easy to manage forests sustainably. Besides concerns about ecology, the environment and the livelihood of the people in the vicinity, there are many other factors that come into play – social, political and cultural.
So Anuradha and Sandeep Gupta of Kurukshetra University decided to use an analytic hierarchy process. In this process, all criteria are gathered together in a hierarchical order to get clues for decision making on managing forests with minimal biases.
The duo surveyed 77 forest fringe villages in the Yamunanagar district, Haryana and interviewed more than 300 people. Under three major criteria – environmental, economic, and social factors – they identified nine sub-criteria or indicators. The researchers then gave weightage to the criteria and sub-criteria on a nine-point scale.
Environment was found to be the most important criterion. Economy and society were equally important and complementary to each other.
The duo then arranged the criteria and sub-criteria in an ascending order, according to the priority and preference of different stakeholders.
Protecting and preserving forests, they found, was the most important indicator for forest sustainability within the environmental category. Maintaining forest diversity and restoring and rehabilitating lost landscapes within the forest area were other indicators.
To study the different aspects of forests with the help of indicators and sustainable alternatives, the researchers structured a pairwise comparison matrix. The matrix revealed that issues of forest protection and preservation can be addressed by investing in, and enhancing different forest management activities, including maintaining ecosystem types. Eliminating alien species, weed control campaigns and improving forest boundary demarcation and security were other important factors.
Now that the criteria are prioritised based on inputs from various stakeholders, the next step is to fix their contributions and responsibilities towards managing forests.
‘For sustainable forests, there is an urgent need to engage forest officials, local communities, government authorities, and other stakeholders in management activities,’ says Sandeep Gupta, Kurukshetra University.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 194:849 (2022)
DOI: 10.1007/s10661-022-10510-0
Tahera Arjumand
MANAGE, Hyderabad
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