NTFPs in the Forests of the Western Ghats, India

by University of Massachusetts/Boston

Project Overview

The Western Ghats is one of the most biologically diverse areas in South Asia. The Biligiri Rangan Hills, where the project team is working, contains elephants, gaurs, sambars, wild pigs, sloth bears, barking deer, and over 900 flowering plants. This richness led to the area being declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1972. The biodiversity of the Sanctuary is threatened, however, by overharvesting of forest products by local people from the tribal Solig communities and outsiders.

To meet these threats, VGKK, a local NGO that has been working with the Soliga communities since 1981, is establishing several new enterprises which rely on the sustainable management and local processing of four different forest products: amla fruits, herbs, wild honey, and medicinal plant preparations. Community members harvest products and receive money from both collecting non-timber forest products (on a per unit harvested basis) and processing them (on a wage basis). Profits from the enterprises will go to community-wide projects such as schools, health clinics, and other development activities. Potential non-cash benefits include maintenance of the Soligas' forest-based lifestyle and the health benefits from the use of locally collected medicinal plants. Women will be involved extensively in operating the enterprises since most of the products being collected have traditionally been collected by women as well as men.

The project also plans to help local people regain the control they once had over the forest by helping them restructure the cooperative societies so that forest product harvesters can realize better prices for their efforts. The success of VGKK's efforts in the Western Ghats will help to build the case, in India and elsewhere, for the local management of natural resources.

Successes and Challenges
"OK...So What?"

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