Declining Instituted Collective Management Practices and Forest Quality in the Central Himalayas

Abstract

There is a steady decline in instituted forest management practices and also a quantitative and qualitative decline of once dense and well-managed van panchayat forests in the Kumaon hills in the central Himalayas. This study examines and identifies the factors leading to this decline and suggests that any efforts at the revival of van panchayats must be made on an understanding of these causative factors.