Healing the Broken Spine: A Community-led Conservation Initiative in Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India

Ruffner, Jennifer and Barbery Smith, Ennis (2019) Healing the Broken Spine: A Community-led Conservation Initiative in Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India. In: 2018 US/ICOMOS Symposium "Forward Together: A Culture-Nature Journey Towards More Effective Conservation in a Changing World", November 13-14, 2018, San Francisco, California. [Conference or Workshop Item]

Preview

PDF Menon-et-al.-2019-US-ICOMOS-Proceedings.pdf Download (343kB) | Preview

Abstract (in English)

PART 1. ADOPTING A LANDSCAPE APPROACH - Stewardship of Biocultural Landscapes in the 21st Century: Forging Community-Based Approaches /// Garo Hills, part of the Meghalaya elephant landscape in India, includes the Garo Hills Elephant Reserve and five elephant corridors, supporting about 800-1000 elephants. The Nokrek National Park along with a network of forest patches connecting to Balpakram National Park forms the backbone of biodiversity of the region and is designated as Garo Green Spine. In Garo Hills only 7-8% of the forested area is controlled by the Forest Department; the remaining area is owned by local communities under the jurisdiction of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC). Age-old agricultural practices like slash-and-burn cultivation (jhum) have fragmented the forests, affecting wildlife movement and increasing human-wildlife conflict, especially with elephants. Despite the dependence on such agricultural practices crucial for core sustenance, the Garo tribes take it upon themselves to stitch together this ‘spine’ through a community-led conservation initiative. This paper proposes to capture the spirit behind the unique initiative by these communities along with Wildlife Trust of India and World Land Trust, which work in partnership with the GHADC in protecting community lands as ‘Village Reserve Forests’. This remarkable way of conservation has resulted in protection of over 2800 hectares of forest patches and habitat restoration of another 200 hectares. This is an affirmation of indigenous rights, self-governmentand community empowerment creating a multi-level impact resulting in not just wildlife habitat protection but also a positive social impact on the communities with regards to their livelihood and lifestyle. Such conservation measures can be a big step towards sustainable environmental protection in the long term.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Speech)
Authors:	Authors Email Ruffner, Jennifer UNSPECIFIED Barbery Smith, Ennis UNSPECIFIED
Languages:	English
Keywords:	Wildlife Conservation; Forest Management; Meghalaya, Garo Tribe; Community Based Conservation; Village Reserve Forest; GHADC, Wildlife Trust of India; natural heritage; community participation; local communities; social and economic aspects; legal protection; indigenous people; human rights; india
Subjects:	E. CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION > 06. Cultural Landscapes E. CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION > 05. Sites E. CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION > 07. Management E. CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION > 09. Social and economic aspects of conservation E. CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION > 11. Legal protection and Administration H. HERITAGE TYPOLOGIES > 19. Natural sites J. HERITAGE ECONOMICS > 05. Heritage and sustainable development
Name of monument, town, site, museum:	Garo Hills
National Committee:	United States of America
ICOMOS Special Collection Volume:	2018 US/ICOMOS Symposium
Depositing User:	ICOMOS DocCentre
Date Deposited:	08 Jan 2020 15:51
Last Modified:	01 Aug 2024 12:10
References:	Barn Quilt Association of Garrett County. n.d. “About Us.” Accessed September 28, 2018.http://garrettbarnquilts.org/about_us/. Buggey, Susan. 1998. “Historic Landscape Conservation in North America: Roaming the Field Over the Past Thirty Years.” APT Bulletin 29 (3/4): 37-42. Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority. n.d. “Welcome to Canal Place:Cumberland’s Heritage Park.” Accessed September 28, 2018. https://canalplace.org/. Conzen, Michael P. 1990. “Introduction.” In The Making of the American Landscape, edited by Michael P. Conzen, 1-8. Boston: Unwin Hyman. Cowley, Jillian P. 2011. “Knowledge All Around You: Cultural Landscapes Management from aLandscape Point of View (Session Introduction).” In Rethinking Protected Areas in a ChangingWorld: Proceedings of the 2011 George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas,and Cultural Sites, edited by Samantha Weber, 405-406. Hancock, Michigan: The George WrightSociety. Hufford, Mary. 1994. “Introduction: Rethinking the Cultural Mission.” In Conserving Culture: A New Discourse on Heritage, edited by Mary Hufford, 1-11. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Korr, Jeremy L. 2002. “Washington’s Main Street: Consensus and Conflict on the Capital Beltway, 1952-2001.” PhD diss., University of Maryland, College Park. Lewis, Peirce. 1983. “Learning from Looking: Geographic and Other Writing about the American Cultural Landscape.” American Quarterly 35 (3): 242-261. Mahoney, Eleanor. 2014. “History of the Pennsylvania Heritage Areas.” Prepared for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Accessed September 28, 2018. http://www.docs.dcnr.pa.gov/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_20030075.pdf/. Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. 2009. “Maryland Heritage Areas Program: Charting a Sustainable Course for the Next Decade, 2010-2020.” Approved by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority in October 2009. Accessed September 28, 2018. http://mht.maryland.gov/documents/PDF/MHAA/MHAA_StrategicPlan.pdf/. National Park Service. n.d. “National Heritage Areas: Community-Led Conservation and Development.” Accessed September 28, 2018. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/heritageareas/index.htm/. Public Service Commission of Maryland. 2017. “In re Application of Miles Branch Solar, LLC, No. 9411.” Issued January 10, 2017. Sauer, Carl O. 1963[1925]. “The Morphology of Landscape.” In Land and Life: A Selection of the Writings of Carl Ortwin Sauer, edited by John Leighly, 315-350. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press. Taylor, Ken. 2012. “Landscape and Meaning: Context for Global Discourse on Cultural Landscape Values.” In Managing Cultural Landscapes. Edited by Ken Taylor and Jane L. Lennon, 21-44. London: Routledge. Tilghman Watermen’s Museum. n.d. “Tilghman Island History.” Accessed September 28, 2018.https://tilghmanmuseum.org/explore/tilghman-island-history/.
URI:	https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2287

Actions (login required)

View Item

Metadata

• HTML Citation
• ASCII Citation
• Full
• OpenURL ContextObject
• EndNote
• BibTeX
• MODS
• MPEG-21 DIDL
• EP3 XML
• Dublin Core
• Reference Manager
• Eprints Application Profile
• Simple Metadata
• Refer
• METS

Downloads