The panel will discuss the importance of social anthropology in forest and natural resources management and development towards sustainable development..
Long Abstract:
Social Anthropology deals with human culture, livelihood, diversities, system and aesthetic matters. In the colonial countries in the third world the indigenous peoples have the symbiotic relationship with forests and natural resources as they are the primary stakeholder as their culture, ways of life, religion, habitat are centered round the forest. Both Anthropology and forestry were introduced in south-asian countries during colonial rule for their own requirement of administration, revenue and timber-harvesting. After attainment of independence the same colonial legacy was followed till 1992, form the Rio conference, when the sustainable development was principally focused, then at the policy level in the forests and natural resources viz. water, land, soil, non-wood forest products including medicinal plants the change was brought, that was subsequently followed in the application of forest management. Thus , the centralized, custodial, controlled timber harvesting forestry was transformed into participatory, decentralized, equitable and sustainable forest management. This has given importance of values in research and investigations in human attitudes, community organization, and knowledge on bio-diversity management, cultural practices on conservation, gender sensitivity, application of community institution, livelihood system and so on. This has been found significance in decision-making process, participatory rural appraisal, protection mechanism, benefit-sharing, monitoring and evaluation etc which are major focuses in the postmodernism social anthropological research and studies.
This panel aims to discuss in holistic manner to make inter-linkage between the importance of social anthropology and management and development of the natural resources in which the socio-economic problems and issues of indigenous peoples will be focused.
A comparison of two kinds of ritual regulation in the context of deforestation, social change and the recent history of state forest management practices on Seram, eastern Indonesia.
Paper long abstract:
Nuaulu people on the island of Seram in the Indonesian province of the Moluccas sustainably manage forest resources (timber and other products) that they need to build sacred houses, and to provision feasts that accompany important rituals. They do this through a system of protected areas. This form of ritual regulation is compared with another form well-described for the Moluccas and much-discussed in debates on how traditional arrangements can be used to deliver conservation objectives- sasi. The paper compares the two kinds of ritual regulation in the context of deforestation, social change and the recent history of state forest management practices on Seram.
For the purpose of this paper, I will analyze the current stakes of environmental governance in southern rural societies, exemplified by a case study of nature conservation projects in southern Sri Lanka.
Paper long abstract:
This paper addresses the issue of new local governance models emerging from nature conservation projects in rural communities of Southern Sri-Lanka. Through this case study, this paper focuses on local governance as an interactional process through which different stakeholders and institutions negotiate public resource management. Nature conservation projects in Sri Lanka illustrate the stakes of environmental governance, which involves various kinds of actors (local communities, NGOs and civil society, the State, international institutions, etc.).
First, I will focus on how those projects are appropriated by various groups of people in line with their interests and strategies. Second, I will question the emergence of new relationships between the State and local populations that those projects bring about. In fact, the increasing number of projects in rural communities may lead to new forms of State intervention, as well as external entities, in people's daily lives, and participate to the appearance of new local figures of power. I will finally stress the interactions between different kinds of environmental ideologies and knowledge and demonstrate how new hybrid models of understanding and managing natural resources emerge locally.
This paper uses a Sri Lankan example in order to analyze the current stakes of environmental governance in southern rural societies. My aim is to develop a better understanding of the social and cultural issues of biodiversity protection from an anthropological point of view. The final objective is to improve the relevance of these projects in regards to local populations.
The paper aims to discuss the tribals of Eastern Satpura, who are conserving the medicinal plants in plantation, preservation and protections for the cure of various diseases
Paper long abstract:
The health of indigenous or tribal people is the perceptions and conceptions in their own cultural system utilizing and managing their bio-resources and bio-diversities of their habitat. They have the various procedures of treatment viz. folk treatment, religious or preventive procedure, magical or curative procedures. The utility of the herbal medicinal species in curing the diseases and maintaining their sound health conditions is well known. Few species are considered to be endangered due to Injudicious and unscientific method of collecting the medicinal plant is reason of destruction. In Patalkot area it has been observed that the people destroy the plants by chipping of bark around. The climatic factor is another factor responsible for destruction of plant species. Still they preserve and conserve the huge number of herbal medicines for the cure of various chronic and acute diseases. The study was conducted in Mandla and Dindori districts of Madhya Pradesh in Gond and Baiga villages on number medicinal plants to show their preservation and conservation in their daily life, especially in various religious or ritual practices.
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