Green Gold and the Himalayas

Popular Article Journal Home: www.bioticainternational.com Article: RT0177 How to cite this article? Biotica Thakur, 2020. Green Gold and the Himalayas. Research Research Today 2(6): 480-483. Today [ [ 480 Abstract Vol 2:6 amboo belongs to the grass family Poaceae and is recognized 483 as the fastest growing plant on earth. It is considered as an 2020 Beconomic resource for a wide range of uses and for poverty alleviation for tribal in particular. The role of bamboo in the economy of the Himalayan people is of utmost importance. The present Green Gold and article deals with a list of bamboos occurring in Himalayas with their vernacular names, distribution and different tribes found in this Himalayan Range especially the lesser Himalayas. However extensive the Himalayas study is required to know emphatically about the bamboo diversity of the Himalayan state. Anuradha Thakur Introduction Dept. of Silviculture and Agroforestry, Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, amboos belong to the family Poaceae (Graminae) are one of the fastest growing perennial plants in the world. Himachal Pradesh (173 230), India BThere are approximately 1662 species comprising of 121 genera of which 14% have been found worldwide beyond their native ranges. Bamboo forms a rich belt of vegetation in well drained parts of tropical and subtropical habitat and extended up to 3700 m of altitude in Himalayas. India is reportedly home to about 125 indigenous and 11 exotic species of bamboo from 23 genera bearing 1,60,037 sq. km area of the country. There is an increase of 3,229 sq. km in bamboo bearing area Open Access as compared to the estimate of ISFR 2017 (ISFR 2019 Vol. I). Corresponding Author Bamboos of Lesser Himalayas Anuradha Thakur e-mail: [email protected] amboos with a variety of different genera adapted to different ecological zones, and with unknown number Bof species, subspecies and varieties are distributed Keywords throughout the Himalayas. Himalayas are the youngest fold mountains in the world. The Indian Himalayan Region is a Bamboo, Himalayas, Tribes, Economy range that spans 10 states of India namely, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, and two partial hill states, namely Assam and West Bengal. The Lesser Himalayas or Himachal average 1500 m to 5000 m in height and 50 Km width. The range continues east through the Indian states of J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Article History and Uttar Pradesh. The range then enters Nepal, the eastern Received in 19th June 2020 Indian states of Sikkim & West Bengal, then cuts through the Received in revised form 25th June 2020 country of Bhutan and the re-enters into the eastern Indian Accepted in final form 26th June 2020 states Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir has not been in the study as no state data is available for bamboos occurrence (Figure 1). Diversity, Uses and Tribes lthough, bamboo occurs in almost every State of the country, its distribution and concentration varies E-mail: [email protected] Aprimarily due to the climatic and edaphic conditions.

With its wide distribution, Bamboo also plays an important the tribal world-view emphasizes. With the concept of role in carbon sequestration, bio-diversity and soil moisture Sustainable Development for Himalayan tribes, comes the conservation. Their diversity in terms of size, being light problem in discrepancy between the two laws on rights for yet strong, hard, straight and yet flexible, fast growth and ADIVASIS (Tribes) to the bamboo growing on their traditional abundance make them amenable to versatility of uses. The forestlands. physical and environmental properties of bamboo make it an The classification of bamboo as a tree made the resources exceptional economic resource for a wide range of uses and inaccessible to the economically disadvantaged forest for poverty alleviation. So due to this, sometimes it is known dwelling rural communities and thwarted bamboo-based as “poor man’s timber”. Amount of surplus use of bamboo in livelihood. Since bamboo was defined as a tree, The Indian human economy has led to the coining of a variety of names Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2017 replaces the Indian Forest for this species. The Vietnamese call it ‘My Brother’, the (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 and amends the Section 2 Chinese ‘Friend of the people’ and in India it is widely known (7) of the Indian Forest Act 1927. This amendment is with as ‘Green Gold’ (Tamang et al., 2013). the major objective to promote cultivation of bamboo in non-forest areas to achieve two of the objectives of increasing farmers’ income and also increasing green cover of the country. Bamboo as an important non-wood forest product used in making normal and fine quality paper, furniture, flooring, handicrafts, walking sticks, fishing poles etc. Young bamboo shoots are used as vegetables in many cuisines. Raw leaves of many bamboo species are used as fodder for cattle. The largest stems of bamboo are used as planks for houses and rafts, while both large and small stems are lashed together to form the scaffoldings at construction sites. Bamboo is therefore, called as green gold, poor man’s timber, cradle to coffin timber etc. (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Map Showing the Lesser Himalayas Distribution Ranges The major bamboo genera found in India are Arundinaria, Bambusa, Chimonobambusa, Dendrocalamus, Dinochola, Gigantochloa etc. The North Eastern States and West Bengal account for more than 50 % of the bamboo resources of the country ISFR 2017 (ISFR 2019 Vol. I). Bamboos are an important component of the subsistence economy in providing livelihood to the tribals, forest dwellers and other communities. It is estimated that in Himalayas, millions of traditional artisan’s livelihood depends almost Figure 2: Bamboo Clump entirely on harvesting, processing, value addition and selling High diversity of bamboo resource plays a significant role of bamboo products such as baskets, mats, handicrafts etc. in the food, medicines, various ethno-religious purpose Major advantage of bamboo is its versatility in making variety and nutritional security of the tribal population. The skill of products by small entrepreneurs without any major initial of working with bamboo is extremely widespread with a investment. large percentage of the ethnic population capable of refined Since the industrial revolution and urbanization all go hand craftsmanship in this material. North Eastern India is famous in hand, tends to overexploit natural resources leading to for bamboo wares notably various decorative items of unavoidable ecological imbalances and increased pressure Tripura, utility items of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, Sikkim on forest reserves along with the tribal livelihood. This and Arunachal Pradesh like beer mugs, japas, baskets etc and results in Sustainable Development demand that recognize decorative as well as utility items of Mizoram like the famous the symbiotic relationship between man and nature which Mizo hat (Figure 3).

Table 1: Distribution of bamboos in different Indian states Table 2: Different bamboos found in Lesser Himalayas with in the Himalayan region their vernacular names Name of the genus Himachal Uttara- Sik- Arunachal Scientific names Vernacular names Pradesh khand kim Pradesh Arundinaria recemosa Sanumaling(Nepali), Phyum, Miknu Ampelocalamus + + (Lepcha),&Pheong, mheem (Bhu- Cephalostachyum ++ +++++ tia) Chimonobambusa + Bambusa nutans Mala bans(Nepali), Mahlu (Lepcha) &Jiu (Bhutia Chimonocalamus ++ Bambusa pallida Deo bans (Nepali), Pshi, pashipo Dendrocalamus + + + + (Lepcha) and Bongshing (Bhutia) Dinochloa + + Bambusa tulda Sigray bans (Nepali), Paoshidingy- Drepanostachyum + + ++++ ++ ing (Lepcha) Himalayacalamus + ++ + Bambusa vulgaris var. Telai bans Melocanna + + vittata Neomicrocalamus + ++ Bambusa vulgaris var. Lota bans waminii Phyllostachys + Dendrocalamus asper Sweet bamboo (English) Pleioblastus + Dendrocalamus gigan- Dhungre bans(Nepali, Giant bam- Pseudostachyum + + teus boo (Nepali) Sarocalamus + + Dendrocalamus stric- Latthi bans (Nepali) Schizostachyum + tus Stapletonia + Melocanna baccifera Lahure bans (Nepali) Teinostachyum + Phyllostachys aurea Kata bans (Nepali) Thamnocalamus ++ ++ ++ ++ Schizostachyum dulloa Tokre bans (Nepali), Pogslo, Puk- Yushania + ++++ +++++ salu (Lepcha) + indicates number of bamboo species found for particular Schizostachyum poly- Pheling bans (Nepali), Parohoik genera in the given state morphum (Lepcha) Sinarundinar iainter- Titaynigalo (Nepali), Parmoik (Lep- media cha) Sinarundinaria maling Malingo (Nepali), Phum (Bhutia) aandPhuemmiknu (Lepcha) Thamnocalamus aris- Ratonigalo (Nepali) tatus

Figure 3: A Bamboo Forest Conclusion he role of bamboo, an NTFP in the economy of the people of Lesser Himalayas is of utmost importance. TBetter management techniques and sustained efforts are essential to be followed for improving the production of Figure 4: Bamboo Farming – A Promising Crop for Progressive Bamboo. A major intervention is also required by authorities at Farmers

the marketing stage. There is need to build up the capability of the community and provide the infrastructural and monetary support. It is only then these areas would be capable of sustaining their needs and would continue be a source of livelihood for the entire community. It is because nobody loves nature, the forests, and the land more than the indigenous people. Our knowledge of the taxonomy and distribution of Himalayan bamboos is still just so woefully inadequate that detailed information on which are endangered and where they need protection is largely unavailable. References Figure 5: Bamboo Huts Tamang, Deo, Kumar, Dhakal, Dinesh, Gurung, Sambhawana, Table 3: Tribes of Lesser Himalayas Sharma, N.P., Shrestha, D.G., 2013. Bamboo Diversity, Distribution Pattern and its uses in Sikkim (India) States/ Regions Tribes Himalaya. International Journal of Scientific and Himachal Pradesh Bhot or Bodh, Gaddi, Gujjar, Jad, Kin- Research Publications 3(2), 1-6. nara, Lahaula, Pangwala, Swangla THE INDIAN FOREST (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2017. Bill No 208 of Uttarakhand Tharu, Buksa, Bhotia, Jaunsri and Raji 2017. https://crda.ap.gov.in/apcrdadocs/Environment_ New/Acts,%20Rules%20&%20NGT%20Orders/2.%20 Sikkim Bhutia and Lepcha The%20Indian%20Forest%20(Amendment)%20Act,%20 Meghalaya Chakma, Dimasa, Garo, Hajong, Hmar, 2017.pdf Khasi, Koch, Raba and Borokachari India State of Forest Report 2019, Volume I. Forest Survey of Assam Chakma, Dimasa, Garo, Hajong, Hmar, India, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Khasi, Kuki and its sub-tribes, Government of India. Nagaland Naga, Kuki, Kachari, Mikir and Garo Arunachal Pradesh Monpa, Sherdukpen, Bugun, Aka, Miji, Nyishi, Sulung or Puroik, Adi, Apatani