Purana Sahitya mein Paryavaran Samrakshan

Reflecting the latest findings of a large research project that began about a decade ago this volume, the 5th in the ongoing “Man and Forest” series, highlights the relevance of ‘indigenous knowledge’ of various South Asian tribal and rural communities in the sustainable management of forests and local resources – more specially against the growing challenges of economic development vis-a-vis environmental hazards and a declining resource base. Not only the volume reiterates the relevance of indigenous knowledge as a development tool in this age of standardized, modern know-how applications, but also illustrates its enormous impact on the social development in tribal and rural areas. Not just in India but in the adjacent countries of Nepal and Bhutan as well are analysed forest policy issues. In these countries, particularly in the current scenario of regulation, the authors emphasise of both collective initiatives at the grassroots level and securing the locally accepted patterns of livelihood for the tribal and village communities. The volume includes widely varied case studies on the role of indigenous knowledge in forestry, community living, and joint management of local natural resources. This book consists of 17 papers, based on cross-cultural, interdisciplinary investigations of well-known scholars of forest management, ethno-botanists, social anthropologists and of the members of several local NGOs involved in either community forestry or village development programmes.

In the management of renewable resources, forests have undeniably a vital role, and today, as never before, their conservation is an urgency. In view of this dire necessity the series Man and Forest tries to highlight the relevance of indigenous knowledge of various South Asian tribal communities in the sustainable management of forests/local resources — more specially against the growing challenges of economic development vis-à-vis environmental hazards and a rapidly declining resource base. A scientific inquiry into indigenous knowledge is an effort to discover/rediscover the tribals’ traditional modes of production and conservation. For them it is the only source to cope with the problems of modernity affecting their lives and precarious environments. Forest Tribes of Orissa: The Juang is the seventh monograph in the series Man and Forest and, after the publication of an account of the forest world of the Dongaria Kondh in 2002, and the Kuttia Kondh in 2006. Being a tribal community in transition, the authors have tried to document and thus safeguard its local traditional knowledge of conservation, use and management of forests and natural resources. They give an account of how the Juang classify trees and other plants, hills, forests, crops and animals. Their subsistence economy, agricultural system, social organization, religious beliefs and other important socio-cultural aspects of forest life have been extensively treated. The lifestyle of this tribal community is finally reflected on the background of forest policy and the impact it has on their livelihood. The present book is, as most of the volumes in the series, the outcome of nearly ten years’ research venture involving an interdisciplinary, intercultural team of sociologists, ethnobotanists, and social anthropologists