orest degradation in Kerala - Causes and Consequences: A case study of PeechiVazhani area T. Jayanarayanan Discussion Paper No. 27 Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development Centre for Development Studies Thiruvananthapuram orest degradation in Kerala - Causes and Consequences: A case study of PeechiVazhani area T. Jayanarayanan English Discussion Paper Rights reserved irst published 2001 Editorial Board: Prof. P. R. Gopinathan Nair, H. Shaji Printed at: Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development Published by: Dr. K. N. Nair, Programme Co-ordinator, Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development, Centre for Development Studies, Prasanth Nagar, Ulloor, Thiruvananthapuram 695 011 Tel: 550 465, 550 491 ax: 550 465 E-mail:
[email protected] Url: http://www.krpcds.org/ Cover Design: Defacto Creations ISBN No: 81-87621-29-X Price: Rs 40 US$ 5 KRPLLD 2001 0750 ENG 2 Contents Acknowledgements 5 1. Introduction 7 2. Area and method 10 3. loristic studies 24 4. Biotic pressure 61 5. Impacts of biotic pressure 79 6. orest degradation in the past four decades, 1950-1990 93 7. Joint orest Management, Peoples Planning, and beyond 99 8. Conclusions 108 Appendix I orest Exploitaion 111 References 113 3 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are indebted to Dr K. Narayanan Nair, Programme Co-ordinator, KRPLLD for his constant interest in the project and the various facilities made available during the project work, particu- larly the training for field survey and PRA. We are thankful to Ms T. K. Kaveri, Head of the Department, Dept. of Chemistry, Sri Vyasa NSS College, Vyasagiri, Thrissur for initial introduc- tion to KRPLLD.