Elements of indigenous socio-ecological knowledge show resilience despite ecosystem changes in the forest-grassland mosaics of the Nilgiri Hills, India

Abstract

The Nilgiri Hills in the Western Ghats of India constitute a region of high biological and cultural diversity, and include an endangered shola forest-grassland mosaic ecosystem. A mosaic ecosystem is one consisting of adjacent, coexisting patches of highly distinct naturally occurring land states (in this case, shola forest and natural grassland). Changes in the landscape since the nineteenth century have severely impacted the sholagrassland mosaic and challenged the traditional lifestyles of the indigenous Toda people. However, the responses of traditional Toda socio-ecological perspectives and landscape management to these changes have not been explored through population surveys. Here, using a survey method, the article explores traditional Toda perspectives of ecosystem value and landmanagement practices. The survey consists of interviews of 50 respondents belonging to 24 munds (villages), covering ten clans, neighbouring mosaic lands, plantations and agricultural areas. The findings show that traditional socio-ecological landscape management is robust and has persisted despite marked ecological and socio-economic changes during the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, and despite frequent gathering of land management advice from non-Toda. Elements of traditional socio-ecological knowledge that have persisted include prevalent collective traditional decision-making and long-held preferences for a landscape composition with a strong mosaic component. The highly robust nature of Toda socio-ecological culture and land management suggests that the Todas have a valuable role to play in supporting the long-term persistence of the shola-grassland mosaic. Increasing their stewardship role would help conserve this endangered and highly biodiverse ecosystem, while at the same time preserving a unique indigenous culture.

Opportunities and challenges in using remote sensing for invasive tree species management, and in the identification of restoration sites in tropical montane grasslands

“…Invasion by exotic trees not only reduce the extent of grassland but also threaten endemic grassland species (Allan et al, 1997;Robin et al, 2014), alter hydrological regimes (Buytaert et al, 2007;Le Maitre et al, 2000;Sikka et al, 2003), reduce wildlife grazing capacity (Yapi et al, 2018) and impact livelihood practices of traditional communities (Cordero et al, 2018;Shackleton et al, 2019). Exotic tree invasions have also been reported to increase fuel loads and fire intensities (Van Wilgen and Richardson, 1985), which degrade soil quality (Lazzaro et al, 2014) and lead to soil erosion (Van der Waal et al, 2012).…”

Ecosystem Changes in Shola Forest-Grassland Mosaic of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR)

“…Tropical montane evergreen forests, locally called as sholas (borrowed from the Tamil word "Sholai") naturally coexist with grasslands at an elevation range of 1400-2700 km [1]. The shola-grassland ecosystem mosaic consists of rolling grasslands with shola fragments limited to sheltered folds and valleys in the mountains alienated from the grasslands with a sharp edge.…”

“…Except in protected areas, conversion of land into commercial plantations, agricultural lands and construction activities such as hydrological dams has resulted in extensive deforestation. The latest Draft Forest Policy of the central government promotes these plantations, even though the State Forest Department has stopped promoting them and there has a ban on them officially since 1996 [1].…”

“…R. Sasmitha 1 *, A. Muhammad Iqshanullah 2 and R. Arunachalam 1 1 Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tiruvannamalai, India 2 STAC, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tirunelveli, India *Address all correspondence to: sasmitharaghu@gmail.com commercial plantations, extensive monoculture, harvesting of shola species and cattle grazing. The ecosystem is likely to undergo extinctions in plant and animal species due to loss of habitat.…”

Indigenous Cipatat Kolot Society Resilience Based on Leuit in Bogor, West Java

“…The purpose is to raise gratefulness to goodness because they obtain abundance of paddy yields and expect that they will acquire similar yields in forthcoming. The stewardship role would help conserve a unique indigenous culture (Cordero et al, 2018). Overall of paddy income will not be consumed, but people will store a part of paddy yields and consume the other part of yields.…”