Natural Resource-based Livelihoods Research Articles

Contemporary Development Discourse in Northeast India and its Impact on the Tribal Communities

Northeast India, a region characterised by great geo-political and ecological significance, is geographically divided into the plains and the hills and is home to many tribal communities that largely depend on natural resource-based livelihoods. While shifting cultivation (jhum) has been a dominant traditional system of land use among tribes both in the hills and the plains, most of them in the plains abandoned this practice on account of colonial-era encroachment. In the hills, however, shifting cultivation still plays a critical role in maintaining agricultural biodiversity and providing food security to the indigenous communities. The advent of colonial development in the region in the 19th century left a long-term impact on its natural and social landscapes. After independence, especially after the early 1960s, the hills that remained largely excluded from the process of colonial development were also brought under the development agenda of the Indian state. However, in recent times, under the neoliberal Indian state, the development discourse in the region has witnessed an unprecedentedly aggressive character seriously undermining the traditional ecology, land ownership system, livelihood and culture of the tribal communities.

Intergenerational perceptions of the collective action challenges facing Mexican community forests

Rural commons globally are facing environmental, demographic, and economic changes that challenge their sustainability. In addition, political and regulatory burdens can complicate the running of communal enterprises that provide income and livelihoods for community members, young and old. When these challenges combine with the cultural changes driven by globalization, youth in rural areas– especially those without access to land–may look outside of their communities for opportunities. The labor shortages and detachment from place that follow can undermine local capacities to manage communal lands for natural resource-based livelihoods. Researchers and NGOs that have studied and supported community-based resource management, including community forest enterprises (CFEs), argue that building community capacities and improving access to markets are necessary for forest commons to be sustainable. Yet, the role of young people in all of this remains understudied, including how their perceptions and motivations vis a vis forest livelihoods and work compare to those of older members who enjoy tenure rights and associated benefits. To help address this knowledge gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with youth/young adults and older rights-holders in communities in different regions of Mexico with their own forestry enterprise, along with a small number of non-community members working in or supporting the country’s community forestry sector. We found that youth held a degree of attachment to traditional rural life, but perceived limited economic opportunities locally, low and unstable incomes, and few retirement benefits associated with forest work. This, along with the physical strain of land-based livelihoods, a lack of access to credit, processing delays for harvesting permits, and outdated logging equipment, contributed to diminished interest in the forestry sector and enhanced motivations to out-migrate. To cope with internal labor shortages, communities seek labor from afar, offering short-term contractual wages, and lease land and rights to outsiders. Such actions occur outside of federal commons law, suggesting that the regulatory context in Mexico is out of step with the emergent realities and needs of contemporary forest communities.

Implementation Framework for Transformation of Peat Ecosystems to Support Food Security

The development of food estates, including peatland ecosystems, is expected to support food security in all regions equally. Technically, the widespread clearing of peatlands for cultivating a specific food crop has multiple environmental effects. The need for more attention to non-technical aspects related to the socioeconomic life of the surrounding community is also an obstacle to the sustainability of the food estate program. In support of food security and sovereignty, this study aimed to develop an implementation framework for sustainably utilizing peat ecosystems as arable land-producing food commodities. A systematic literature review in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines and field observations were used to develop ecosystem concepts by focusing on maintaining an ecosystem’s social, economic, and ecological aspects. This paper describes the history of peat ecosystem utilization, evaluates previous errors in peatland clearing for food, and analyzes the data using the perspective of peat hydrological unit to better understand the livelihood preferences of existing communities. The previous literature’s key findings served as the guidelines for constructing the implementation framework. First, this method identifies people’s natural resource-based livelihoods and describes peatland ecosystems. Second, it evaluates the long-term viability of livelihoods and identifies improvement levers. Finally, it facilitates increasing the scale of food commodities produced from sustainable livelihoods to meet market demand while maintaining ecosystem resilience.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Tribal Communities and Sustainability of Nature and Natural Resources in Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve in India

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) continues to erode as a result of globalization and the homogenization of diverse cultures, yet it has helped to conserve natural resources and preserve nature for centuries. Biosphere reserves have been established in regions where both cultural and natural resource assortments are deemed rich. The present study was carried out in the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve (PBR) of India with the major objective of investigating the TEK of local communities with respect to the sustainability of nature and natural resources. Through both a questionnaire and interviews with tribal groups in PBR, a total of 128 plant species were documented, of which the highest number of species (52%) was used for food, followed by medicine (40%), cultural practices (13%), and construction of houses (11%). Apart from the collection of plants from the adjacent forests for their sustenance, the tribal groups engaged in various other activities including farming practices, maintenance of home gardens, soil and water conservation, and continuance of sacred groves. The nature and natural resource-based livelihood and conservation activities of tribal groups involve specific cultural practices and customary norms. This study reveals that the traditional knowledge of tribal communities offers unique ideas for developing and contributing to more effective sustainable management practices and nature conservation. It has a great potential to strengthen the agriculture and health sectors, as the tribal communities have accumulated a fair amount of knowledge in such sectors.

Emic Views of Community Resilience and Coastal Tourism Development

Coastal communities are among the most rapidly changing, institutionally complex, and culturally diverse in the world, and they are among the most vulnerable to anthropogenic change. While being a driver of anthropogenic change, tourism can also provide socio-economic alternatives to declining natural resource-based livelihoods for coastal residents. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of small-scale cruise tourism on coastal community resiliency in Petersburg, Alaska. Exploring these impacts through resiliency theory’s lens of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, we employed ethnographic research methods that emphasize emic viewpoints to determine how residents see this form of tourism affecting the resiliency of valued community culture, institutions, and traditional livelihoods. Findings indicate that with purposeful engagement in niche cruise tourism involving boats with 250 passengers or less, and an active rejection of the large cruise ship industry, Petersburg exhibits increased adaptive capacity to promote the resilience of valued community institutions and heritage. This work draws needed recognition to the diversity of activities that fall under the label of cruise tourism, including the distinct implications of smaller-scale, niche cruise tourism for the resilience of coastal communities. It also highlights the need to capture emic perspectives to understand the politics of community resiliency.

Coping and Adaptation in Response to Environmental and Climatic Stressors in Caribbean Coastal Communities

Cumulative and synergistic impacts from environmental pressures, particularly in low-lying tropical coastal regions, present challenges for the governance of ecosystems, which provide natural resource-based livelihoods for communities. Here, we seek to understand the relationship between responses to the impacts of El Niño and La Niña events and the vulnerability of mangrove-dependent communities in the Caribbean region of Colombia. Using two case study sites, we show how communities are impacted by, and undertake reactive short-term responses to, El Niño and La Niña events, and how such responses can affect their adaptive capacity to progressive environmental deterioration. We show that certain coping measures to climate variability currently deliver maladaptive outcomes, resulting in circumstances that could contribute to system ‘lock-in’ and engender undesirable ecological states, exacerbating future livelihood vulnerabilities. We highlight the significant role of social barriers on vulnerabilities within the region, including perceptions of state abandonment, mistrust and conflicts with authorities. Opportunities to reduce vulnerability include enhancing the communities’ capacity to adopt more positive and preventative responses based on demonstrable experiential learning capacity. However, these will require close cooperation between formal and informal organisations at different levels, and the development of shared coherent adaptation strategies to manage the complexity of multiple interacting environmental and climatic pressures.

The community livelihoods strategy as a response to peat swamp forest ecosystem change and Covid-19 pandemic in Ogan Komering Ilir Regency, Indonesia

Pressure on peat swamp forests in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency for timber extraction, agricultural land, oil palm plantations, and pulp and paper plantation forests cause degradation of peat swamp forest. Communities living around peat swamp forests in OKI Regency are affected by changes of peat swamp forests and Covid-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine the livelihood strategies of communities around peat swamp forests due to degradation of peat swamp forests and Covid-19 pandemic. The sustainable livelihood analysis was used as an analytical framework in this study. The data obtained were analyzed descriptively qualitatively and quantitatively. The diversification strategy was appropriate to be implemented because it allows the community to achieve improved welfare and be sustainable under peat swamp forest ecosystem change and Covid-19 Pandemic. The diversification strategy also reduced community dependence on natural resource-based livelihoods. Increasing the quality and quantity of human, social, financial, and physical capital were enabling the diversification strategy.

The Nigerian population: A treasure for national development or an unsurmountable national challenge

Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world. It is equally one of the Less Developed Countries (LDCs) with very high population. Population growth is a very important element and a challenge in the development process in LDCs. The population of Nigeria is expected to continue to grow up to 239 million by 2025 and 440 million by 2050, thereby ranking it to 4th position among countries of the World with high population. This without doubt will place Nigeria in a position of major player in the global system, and more importantly in the African region. It is against this background that this study examines Nigeria’s population composition by poising the following questions; will Nigeria’s present and future population structure be a benefit or a burden? How can Nigeria’s relative share of working-age composition (15- 64) and dependents (under 15 and 65 and over) contribute to long term economic growth and development of the country? The findings of the study reveals that population growth is a critical factor in the development of any economy, providing workforce for production of goods and services to boost economic development and a critical determinant of the potentials of a country’s investment. The study findings also show that continuous population growth militates against economic growth through inducement of poverty, falling medical care/services and environmental degradation, worsen resource scarcity in areas where a large proportion of the population already relies on natural resource-based livelihoods. The study argued that population increase is not a problem in itself to any nation, and that there are some impeding factors associated with population growth such as corruption, inadequate planning, inappropriate implementation of development plans, poor budget/implementation and complacency in developing human capital. These are issues that the Nigerian state since independence have continued to battle with which has invariably made it a seemingly failed state. The study concludes that how much any country can benefit from its population size is dependent on the quality of human capital. Based on the findings, the study recommends economic diversification, government empowerment of Small and Medium scale Enterprises, paying attention to human capital development and target-oriented education.

Livelihoods with multiple stressors: Gendered youth decision-making under global change in rural Northwest Mexico

Livelihoods in rural communities have become increasingly complex due to rapidly changing socio-economic and environmental forces, with differing impacts on and responses by female and male youth. This study contributes to feminist political ecology through an explicit focus on youth and an examination of the intersections of age and gender in educational choices, livelihood systems, and human–environment interactions. We undertake double exposures analysis to explore female and male youths’ livelihood-related decision-making in Rayón, a semi-arid rural community in Northwest Mexico, undergoing global environmental change and globalization-related shifts in agriculture, climate, water, and socio-economic conditions. Global environmental change exacerbates an already fragile, local ecological context. A focus on gender issues among youth in three age categories (14–15, 16–19, and youth in their 20s) with respect to their decision-making concerning the future is critical to gaining a better understanding of the roles women and men will play in linked agricultural and non-agricultural, rural to urban livelihood systems. Agricultural employment increasingly includes global agribusiness where local youth compete with people from other areas. Access to employment, education, as well as water and land resources varied by gender, age, and social class, and played significant roles in livelihood diversification and migration decisions and outcomes. Mothers’ access to government assistance for their natural resource-based livelihoods positively impacted daughters’ opportunities. Educational curricula failed to link environmental change with local livelihoods and to prepare students for urban careers. This study offers insights related to female and male youths’ needs associated with environmental education, technology access, job training, and child and sibling care in order for them to more successfully confront the future across village, town, and city spaces.

Livelihood transitions and social wellbeing on the Atlantic Forest Coast of Brazil

Globalised change is driving transitions in small-scale tropical fisheries away from natural resource-based livelihoods towards wage labour that involves employment in the service industry and outmigration from centres of origin. In this paper, we employ a social wellbeing lens to examine livelihood transitions from the perspective of the inhabitants of Ponta Negra, a fishing community on the Atlantic Forest Coast of Brazil. Social wellbeing allows the examination of how people experience and perceive environmental change as well as how their desires and aspirations shape their adaptation preferences. In spite of a dwindling fishing economy and increased restriction to accessing lands for agriculture, older people value living in this community but expect their offspring to move to urban centres and join the regional tourism industry labour force. Formal education is seen as a strategic resource that can facilitate desirable livelihood transitions through access to better paid jobs and enabling the mobilisation of local knowledge and other resources into the local tourism economy in ways that allow individuals and households to retain their footing in the community.

Contesting renewable energy in the global south: A case-study of local opposition to a wind power project in the Western Ghats of India

Influenced by global concerns around climate change mitigation, reduction in carbon emissions and energy security, countries are increasingly focussing on increasing the share of renewable energy. Various national and provincial level authorities are aggressively promoting renewable energy expansion, resulting in new geographies of renewable energy. The expansion of renewable energy, particularly large-scale projects, is contingent upon access to natural resources. However, areas that have high natural resource endowment for renewable energy, often have other overlapping uses of natural resources, including livelihoods and biodiversity. And renewable energy projects located in these areas compete with these other multiple uses of natural resources, often leading to unintended consequences. This study employs ethnographic methods to analyse the case of local opposition to a 113 MW wind power project, located in the Western Ghats of India. India, an emerging economy, is the fourth largest producer of wind energy worldwide and is expanding the share of renewable energy through national as well as provincial level policies. The Western Ghats are a designated UNESCO world heritage site for their exceptional biodiversity and the wind power project conflicted with natural resource-based livelihoods of indigenous populations and threatened their subsistence agricultural practices along with posing a threat to the ecology of the landscape. As a result, local activists protested against the wind power project and this contestation was animated and influenced by a variety of public, civic and private actors and institutions across scale. This paper uses insights from political ecology and energy geography to shed light on the interaction between these multiple actors and how this interaction mediated the contestations around renewable energy. It focuses on the micropolitics of this contestation to highlight the social and political processes that underpin the transition to sustainable energy. It sheds light on local struggles and contestations around renewable energy projects in conjunction with national and global commitments and shows how contestations around renewable energy in the Global South are distinct from the largely prevalent NIMBY approaches in the developed countries. This study contributes to global debates around governing renewable energy, particularly in developing countries.

Agricultural Biodiversity Maintenance in a Coastal Socio-Ecological System: the Pearl Lagoon Basin, Nicaragua

Globalization processes, such as market pressures, tend to encourage farmers to reduce agricultural (or agro-) biodiversity. Yet, what is known about the drivers of agrobiodiversity erosion largely comes from research from communities in which farming is the principle natural resource-based livelihood. Focusing on Caribbean Nicaragua’s Pearl Lagoon Basin following the construction of the first regional road, we used a mixed methods approach to understand how the complex livelihood dynamics inherent in coastal socio-ecological systems—where households rely upon both terrestrial and aquatic resources—affect farmers’ decisions to maintain agrobiodiversity. Our analyses reveal atypical spatial patterns of agrobiodiversity maintenance relative to road access: the farming systems of households most proximal to the road are significantly more agrobiodiverse than those maintained by household in distant communities. This pattern is in part explained by local livelihood dynamics. Market access associated with road development encouraged the depletion of the lagoon fishery. To buffer their food security, households’ near to the road are focusing efforts on their historically biodiverse subsistence agricultural systems. These findings suggest that conservation efforts targeting coastal socio-ecological systems must account for the ways in which the complexity of natural resource-based livelihoods in these systems affect households’ responses to a changing world.

Earning a Livelihood from Himalayan Caterpillar Fungus in Kumaon Himalaya: Opportunities, Uncertainties, and Implications

The trade of Himalayan caterpillar fungus, or Ophiocordyceps sinensis, is believed to have transformed the rural economy of certain Himalayan villages. Most scholarly work on the caterpillar fungus focuses on its ecology, physiology, and pharmacological attributes, followed by conservation and sustainability issues. Few studies have tried to understand it from a socioeconomic and political perspective. Of the few studies examining its economic contribution to households, most are concentrated in Nepal and Tibet, and a handful focus on India. In the present study, we estimated the mean annual cash income per household in Gori valley, Kumaon Himalaya, and the relative economic contribution of caterpillar fungus. We compared the incomes of caterpillar fungus collectors with those of noncollectors, identified harvest trends from 2009 to 2017, and took stock of people's perceptions regarding this short seasonal occupation. Results show that earnings from caterpillar fungus contribute 60–78% to the annual household income of collectors, with noncollectors earning 15–55% less than collectors. The study suggests that an increase in the number of harvesters may explain an observed decline in individual harvests. Though caterpillar fungus provides opportunities for economic emancipation to half the valley's population, inconsistent harvest, unreliable prices, and illegality of the trade are decreasing its viability for many. Furthermore, discordant and complex governance meted out through various state directives is increasingly jeopardizing this local natural resource-based livelihood enhancement strategy—a strategy that has incidentally outperformed concerted state efforts for poverty alleviation in the region.

Drivers and consequences of biophysical landscape change in a peri-urban–rural interface of Guwahati, Assam

North-east India is constituted of highly diverse ecosystems with unique characteristics with high dependency on primary sector income (86% on agriculture). It is very crucial to look into the issues like agriculture, ecosystem services and sociocultural aspects of endemic population, while urban areas are expanding. This paper examines the issues pertinent to peri-urban expansion with a case study from the biggest city of the region, Guwahati. The scope for sustainable development planning in peri-urban region through analysing spatial, economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects has been incorporated in this paper. Landscape research has been enhanced with temporal and spatial analysis of land-use and land-cover change for better landscape management. Remotely sensed data are the most important data source for land-cover change trajectories over three decades at three points of time (1991, 2001 and 2011) for the selected study landscape. This research explores the temporal composition of the main land-use land-cover classes. The major changes in land-use land-cover classes observed from the study are reduction in natural land cover (from 83.57 to 61.85%) and increase in built-up area (from 0.96 to 15.39%) and agricultural (from 6.01 to 15.59%) uses. Despite the intensification of agricultural land area, there has been decrease in agricultural livelihoods and subsequent reduction in income contribution from natural resource-based livelihoods. These findings on land-use land-cover change can be inferred as the impacts of peri-urbanization leading to degradation of agricultural land, deforestation, deterioration of wetland and wild habitat destruction.

Is participatory watershed development building local adaptive capacity? Findings from a case study in Rajasthan, India

Watershed development has emerged as a crucial intervention to strengthen natural resource-based livelihoods in semi-arid areas in India. It has evolved from an infrastructure-heavy, top-down approach, into an increasingly participatory process aimed at building rural adaptive capacity to deal with climate change and other risks such as water scarcity and natural resource degradation. However, the efficacy of watershed development initiatives in building local adaptive capacity has not matched intention, and farmers remain exposed to unpredictable water supply. Against this backdrop of inadequate alignment between policy intention and outcomes, this paper examines whether participatory watershed development, as it is currently implemented, contributes to building farmer adaptive capacity. A case study of a watershed project in southern Rajasthan is used as an illustrative example. The findings demonstrate that watershed interventions focussed on hard adaptation options such as building check dams without a matching emphasis on soft adaptation approaches such as building inclusive institutions or incentivising sustainable resource use. In practice, community participation often reinforced existing power and gender- and caste-based hierarchies, raising questions of who benefits from participatory watershed projects and to what degree. Several non-project, macro-scale factors such as corruption and continued policy focus on water supply augmentation were found to undermine positive impacts of the watershed project. These findings suggest that without adequate empowerment, expectations that community participation will augment rural livelihoods, restore water-stressed ecosystems, and build adaptive capacity to climatic risks were found to be rhetorical. Thus, the study calls for a restructuring of watershed implementation that includes both hard and soft adaptation approaches, and allows for strategies that first empower and then engage communities in livelihood strengthening and resource stewardship.

Short-term needs trump conservation in household livelihood decision-making around Saadani National Park, Tanzania

This research explores the influence of attitudes towards conservation affecting livelihood decision-making of households in rural Tanzania through a case study of three villages adjacent to Saadani National Park. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews revealed that attitudes towards conservation were not a direct influence on livelihood decisions. Instead, people felt powerless over forces that have reduced resource productivity and undermined their ability to maintain the level of benefits from their livelihood activities. Changing environmental conditions, harmful harvesting practices, restricted access to land and impacts of other resource users were reported as the major reasons for the natural resource-based livelihood challenges that residents face. Household respondents reported the need to adapt livelihood practices to boost or restore that productivity and compensate for diminished resource access. Short-term need drives decision-making where people are vulnerable to change, not long-term considerations of resource integrity. The main barriers that impede the influence of positive conservation attitudes are low resource productivity, small-scale economies and entrenched cultural traditions.

Livelihood diversity and dynamism in Timor-Leste; insights for coastal resource governance and livelihood development

Coastal communities within small island developing states are typically highly dependent on fisheries and other natural resource-based livelihoods. However, specialisation as a ‘fisher’ is rare compared to diverse livelihoods that can be adapted as opportunities and challenges emerge. Understanding this dynamic “livelihood landscape” is important for improving governance and livelihood opportunities associated with natural resources. Using data from 495 households across 15 communities on Atauro Island, Timor-Leste, this study evaluates the importance of fisheries within a suite of livelihoods; the correlation of livelihoods structure with wellbeing; and the spatial and temporal variation of those livelihoods. Activities linked to primary production were nominated by 67% of households as their primary livelihood, 41% fished, and of those 54% considered fishing their primary livelihood. Almost all households (95%) owned livestock, and even respondents who considered themselves ‘fishers’ ranked livestock disease, rather than fisheries related concerns, as their most critical livelihood challenge. Engagement in fishing varied by location and time of year. Communities in more protected locales fished throughout the year, and had less diverse livelihoods. This study highlights that interventions focused on self-identified ‘fishers’ would only engage a fraction of the population that derive benefit from fisheries resources, would likely overlook the most prevalent challenges fishers face, and would focus on those with relatively high food security and income. Measures of wellbeing were better explained by geography and socio-cultural settings, rather than dominant income sources. The results emphasise the value of cross-sector development interventions informed by contextualised analysis of livelihoods and wellbeing outcomes.

Perceptions of the effects of floods and droughts on livelihoods: lessons from arid Kenya

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how people practicing natural resource-based livelihoods in arid Kenya perceive that their livelihoods are being affected by floods and droughts and how to integrate these local perceptions of impacts into larger-scale climate change adaptation initiatives and policy.Design/methodology/approachIn Isiolo County, Kenya, 270 households were surveyed in seven communities, six focus group discussions were held and a document review was conducted.FindingsThe major livelihood practiced in Isiolo is pastoralism (71 per cent), but agriculture and non-agro-pastoral activities also play an important role, with 53 per cent of the respondents practicing more than one type of livelihood. In Isiolo, floods have a large impact on agriculture (193 respondents out of 270), while droughts impact both agriculture (104 respondents) and livestock (120 respondents), and more specifically, cattle-keeping (70 respondents).Research limitations/implicationsThe research may have implications for the importance of using local perceptions of the effects of climate change on livelihoods for larger-scale interventions. It also provides a case study of local perceptions of the effects of floods and droughts on livelihoods in an arid area with natural resource-dependent livelihoods.Practical implicationsTo understand local perceptions and use local perceptions for larger-scale adaptation interventions and policy.Originality/valueThis paper provides a specific example of a climate change adaptation initiative integrating local perceptions of the impacts of floods and droughts into livelihood-focused interventions.

Re-Linking Governance of Energy with Livelihoods and Irrigation in Uttarakhand, India

Hydropower is often termed “green energy” and proffered as an alternative to polluting coal-generated electricity for burgeoning cities and energy-insecure rural areas. India is the third largest coal producer in the world; it is projected to be the largest coal consumer by 2050. In the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India, over 450 hydroelectric power schemes are proposed or are under development. Hydropower projects ranging from micro hydro (run-of-the-river systems with generating capacity up to 100 kW) to large reservoirs (storage systems up to 2000 MW) such as the Tehri Dam are in various stages of planning, construction or implementation. Run-of-the-river hydropower projects are being developed in Uttarakhand in order to avoid some of the costs to local communities created by large dams. Stakeholders in this rapid hydropower expansion include multiple actors with often diverging sets of interests. The resulting governance challenges are centered on tradeoffs between local electricity and revenue from the sale of hydropower, on the one hand, and the impacts on small-scale irrigation systems, riparian-corridor ecosystem services, and other natural resource-based livelihoods, on the other. We focus on the Bhilangana river basin, where water dependent livelihoods differentiated by gender include farming, fishing, livestock rearing and fodder collection. We examine the contradictions inherent in hydropower governance based on the interests of local residents and other stakeholders including hydropower developers, urban and other regional electricity users, and state-level policymakers. We use a social justice approach applied to hydropower projects to examine some of the negative impacts, especially by location and gender, of these projects on local communities and then identify strategies that can safeguard or enhance livelihoods of women, youth, and men in areas with hydropower projects, while also maintaining critical ecosystem services. By assessing the Bhilangana basin case, we also offer hydropower–livelihoods–irrigation nexus lessons for headwater regions across the Himalayas and globally.

Use of densified complete feed blocks as ruminant feed for sustainable livestock production: A review

Livestock play a central role in the natural resource-based livelihood in developing countries. The area under green forage crops is shrinking due to increase in human population and urbanization. As a result, the bulk of feeds available for ruminants in these regions are the crop residues. Manufacture of Densified Complete Feed Blocks (DCFBs) is an innovative technology to supply balanced feeds to livestock in the tropics. The first step in the process of making DCFBs is the grinding and mixing of concentrate ingredients separately. This is followed by adding concentrate components to chopped straw in desired proportions along with molasses in a mixer, taking care that mixing is uniform and ingredients are not separated due to gravity. Finally, the desired quantity of straw-concentrate mix is transferred to a hydraulic press to convert the mix into a block. Based on the productivity levels of animals, DCFBs could play an important role in providing balanced rations to livestock in the tropical regions of green forage scarcity. The technology offers a means to increase milk production, decrease in environmental pollutants, increase in income of farmers, decrease in labour requirement and time for feeding and reduction in transportation cost of straw. The technology also has the potential to provide complete feed to livestock under emergency situations created by natural calamities.