The mighty Himalayas region is a repository of natural resources, both physical and biological. The resource depletion accompanied by environmental degradation has become a common scenario of the Indian Himalaya, leading to growing social dissatisfaction. The prerequisite for resource conservation and a satisfactory pace of development of the mountain areas is judicious management of resources, preferably based on traditional methods with appropriate degrees of scientific interventions. The subject is well diversified and researches are in progress at global/national levels to improve our understanding about the judicious use of natural resources for sustainable development of mountain areas. The book contains reviews and research papers of active workers on important themes of natural resources. The 33 articles of the book has been grouped under four parts namely, biodiversity status and management; land-uses, hazards and their management; water resource utilization and management, and indigenous knowledge system and socio-economic development. Part I contains 08 articles and reflects comprehensive and well presented work, covering biodiversity status of north-west and central Himalayas; diversity of bamboo, cane, palm, orchid, medicinal plants, fungi in north east India and conservation of high level conifers using innovative nursery technology. Part II of the book contains 11 articles on land-use/cover status assessment using GIS and RS approach; land-use patterns; landslides and its mitigation; restoration of degraded lands; agroforestry and cultivation of MPTs and potential forest tree species for soil amelioration and technological options for land resource development. Part-III contains 04 articles on important aspects of water resource namely, assessment of water resource in Arunachal Himalaya; rain water harvesting for sustainable agriculture; water management for tea cultivation and prospects of micro-irrigation in hilly region. Part-IV of the book contains 10 articles and reflects well presented work, covering different aspects of indigenous knowledge system and socio-economic development namely, traditional indigenous resource management practices, natural resource endowment and economic development; potential of sericulture, fodder, mushroom and animal resources in socio-economic development of inhabitants of the Indian Himalayan region. This part also includes a success story of managing natural resources for the overall development of an area. The articles discussed in this volume are based upon advances made in the field of natural resources. Full coverage is given to natural resources, both physical and biological (except energy and human resources). This edited volume will definitely prove useful to researchers, teachers, students, professional and planners, whosoever, is interested in judicious use of natural resources for the benefit of the world at large and the inhabitants of the Indian Himalayan region in particular.
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