Indigenous Knowledge and Conservation Practices in Tribal Society of Western Himalaya: A Case Study of Sangla Valley

Abstract

KEYWORD Tribal societies; indigenous knowledge; conservation practices; natural resource management; sustainable development. ABSTRACT The tribal people of the Sangla valley of Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh constitute a special category of economically backward area due to its inaccessibility and inhospitable geo-climatic set-up of the region. Subsistence agriculture, livestock rearing and trading off the minor forest products are the only means of economy activities of the marginal people. The tribals have accumulated their own innovative traditional knowledge and have developed a congenial relationship with the locally available biological resources and diverse geo-climatic conditions thus, establishing a perfect harmony with the nature. These people since time immemorial are practicing the indigenous means of conservation of cultural and biological diversity. The existence of an age-old tradition of preserving forests on the ground of religious and mythological beliefs has become a key factor in the revival of degraded areas. A meaningful development of the are could only be achieved when cultural practices (based on indigenous knowledge) are synthesized with the ecological and economic development packages/programmes by involving local people of the region.